Chapter 20

Rain started dropping from the sky when Izaya entered the isolated area.

At first, he doubted to have reached the right address. He checked the description that the kidnappers had given him and the GPS map on his phone several times. Both of them seemed identical and he couldn't think of another place that could possibly fit it.

It had took him nearly half an hour to get here. Had he been too slow? Actually the raven had tried to hurry up, but what if the kidnappers thought he was taking too long, maybe talking to the police on his way?

He had wasted a few minutes observing the area, thinking if it was the right place. In case he couldn't be blamed for getting lost, could he?

The raven constantly asked himself, if this had been a good idea. He didn't have any money with him. Well, maybe enough to pay his way back by train. The kidnappers wouldn't be content with a few Yen, would they?

Hell, he was all alone, too. And except for a few switchblades he was mostly defenseless. How many of them would be there? Two, three ...five or six? Izaya was fast. He could fight two or three at the same time, maybe even five if they wouldn't be too strong. Not as strong as in his dream that is. If the guys in that deserted place would even be close to the ones in his dream, he was dead meat. If they had guns, just one of them – he was dead. No way he would be faster than a fucking bullet. The sole thought was making his blood freeze. His body started to shiver and he didn't know if he was actually that afraid or if the cold breeze whistling through the trees was making his skin crawl.

Izaya wouldn't lie to himself. He was afraid. Even without that dream he probably would have been afraid. Not afraid for his own life, but for his sisters.

If everything failed, then he had just one way left.

The demon.

He gulped.

Within the calm wind he would try to reach his inner would, try to listen to whatever was there. But his mind stayed calm. There was just him and he couldn't hear anything else than his own thoughts. Maybe the demon would help him when the time came, when the raven was in trouble? After all, they were occupying this body together. It would be in the demon's favor to keep this body safe, just as it was in Izaya's.

But was this thought right? Trying to use the demon for his advantage? The demon had shown that he was strong, apparently even Shizuo was scared of him. What if he would just take over the rave's body? Izaya wouldn't mind if that was what it took to save his sisters. He was sure that Shizuo wouldn't calm down before Izaya would be back in control and the demon gone. But what he was afread of was that the demon might be able to hurt or even kill his sisters while he was in the raven's body. And then they would be done for. The raven was sure the demon wouldn't stop for anyone. That's why he had hoped that maybe it would be available for a little treaty. The raven's body for his power and saving his sisters. Didn't that sound like a great treaty? He would be in control and could freely rummage through the world afterwards.

But that fucker just wouldn't show up within their inner world. As if he was hiding and laughing at the raven's misery. His desperateness.

Stupid git.

His eyes darted to the area. It looked like an abandoned industrial area. The houses had started to fall into ruin, surrounded by trees rustling in the wind, sounding like they were murmuring to him. To run away from there.

He couldn`t hear any animals, just the wind slamming open doors and windows shut. It was eerie. An atmosphere of loneliness. This region was like ruins on the threshold to Tokyo and Izaya wondered, how he could have never heard of such a place.

This could have been the venue of many dubious deals.

He would have thought about all the positive ways to use this place for his work, but such thoughts just wouldn't come to his mind when he was at the receiving end.

Where was he supposed to go?

The whole district consisted of maybe 20 house complexes. Was he supposed to just search through all of them?

Slowly he made his way down the torn road. Potholes were covering the tar. The raven was sure that no normal car would have been able to drive over this kind of street. A tank maybe.

Ironically he had to think about Shizuo. In this dirty place surrounded by gray walls, all he wanted was to see the blonde.

Maybe for one last time, though. But that would have been fine. He had the feeling, that he hadn't shown Shizuo enough. That he hadn't given the blonde what he truly deserved. And though the raven was confused, he would have liked to tell the debt collector, that he deserved lots of friends and love and all that his heart wished for. It was amazing that Shizuo had forgiven him so easily for all his past mistakes. Alone this could show that the blonde had a huge heart.

Yes, it would have been nice to tell him that. And that after all these years, Izaya trusted him, would entrust his sisters' lives to him.

Such a shame that it was too late now. He could only hope that the blonde knew anyway.

Sneaking around a corner, the raven left the street, only to step onto a path, where the buildings were slowly becoming one with the forest.

Izaya could swear he heard someone talking, muffled whispers, followed by whimpers, crying, melting together with the wind. He wasn't sure though if it were just the trees whispering to him. It sounded alike. Crying leaves and crying children. He could just lose his mind here.

Cautiously he steeped over the threshold to the clear forest. The raven wasn't stupid. Though the wind was distracting him from all sides, he wouldn't leave the path so carelessly.

He had read enough fairy tales where people got lost in the forest, in the end dying or being eaten. How high was the probability that something like that could actually happen to him in modern Japan? And when did he start to be afraid of monsters? A cold smile spread along his lips.

For a while he could just hear his steps on the sand. The path looked like no one had actually walked here. Izaya was on the verge of walking back. The kidnappers hadn't said anything about a forest and he hadn't seen anything suspicious yet. Just the whispers.

And just when this thought struck him, new sounds reached his ears. This time clearer than before. He looked to his left into the forest from where they were coming, and indeed he could spot a little cabin between the trees. A cabin in the woods, light shining in small windows.

His eyes widened. Gulping he walked towards it, getting down below one of the windows. Slowly he raised his head, looking into the room.

His heart starting racing. He could see his sisters! Both were bound to chairs, their eyes blindfolded and the mouths stuffed. Next to them were two guys sitting in front of the wall, their eyes shut as if they were sleeping. Another one was standing in front of the door apparently. The raven could only see his side and not his face. He tried to recognize the features of the other two, but he was sure that he had never seen them before. Both were maybe in their late twenties, early thirties. One with long black hair combed to a pigtail, the other one with very short blonde hair and a scar at his right cheek. However, the raven couldn't care less about who they were.

If two of them were sleeping or at least distracted and the other one had his back to the door, this could be his perfect chance. Three weren't that much of a problem. And he also couldn't see any weapons on the two guys in front of the wall. So that would be it. He would take out the guy in front of the door first, and then the other two.

Izaya flipped open his switchblade slowly approaching the door with long steps.

He lowered the blade to the spot where the door was closed. It shouldn't be that hard to break the lock of such an old cabin, without anyone inside noticing. He started fumbling with his blade trying not to make any noise. The raven already saw his victory. Once inside this would be a piece of cake, he thought and a small content smile crossed his lips.

Suddenly a hard kick came to his head from behind. At first he couldn't comprehend what had happened. All he noticed was his vision getting blurry, the lock from before disappearing right in front of him. The metallic thud still ringed in his ears, after the switchblade had fallen out of his hand and to the ground. His hand reached for his head clearly feeling the liquid on his fingertips. Dizzily he fell to his knees. His vision still blurry, he turned around to see what had happened. But before he could anything clear, another kick came to his head and everything went black.

The first thing the raven noticed when he came back to consciousness was the aching pain in his skull. It felt almost as if someone had broken it. Maybe a piece was missing? It felt as if one side of it has been replaced by pain and something really hot. Maybe something wet? He could feel the hot liquid on his skin. First on his head. A few seconds later even on his face. It was running down the side of his face, his forehead dripping into his eyes that were desperately trying to open. Tears? Was the first thought that came to Izaya's mind but once he could think more clearly again, he knew that tears were salty and not hot. Blood. That was the only other explanation that came to his mind.

His head was still spinning, his eyes not being able to see anything but red yet. Opening them hurt a lot. Small light was reaching him under his eyelashes but all it did was hurt him and cause him a horrible headache.

Where did the blood come from? Was it his blood?

Maybe he should freak out by now, but his mind was such a mess that his reaction time had suffered a lot. The raven tried to move. First his fingers and feet. He couldn't. Slowly panic arose in him. He tried to turn his head but again pain struck him.

Instead of using his head too much again, he let it rest for a while and concentrated on the rest of his body. Trying to free his hands again, he noticed that they were tied behind him. He couldn't move them at all, which meant that the rope was either very thick or that they were tied to something else. Maybe a chair? Or the wall? Izaya noticed that he was in a sitting position and that his feet weren't any better. They were also tied to something very solid.

Or maybe the raven was just way too weak right now.

He tried to move again, just a few inches but he could forget about it. Even if he moved, he couldn't actually feel any difference.

Instead Izaya decided to try and open his eyes again. It was connected to a great pain but it was his only way for now.

Slowly he tried to adjust to the horrible light around him. It was just flickering like candle light, so actually it wasn't bright but still enough for him to want his eyes shut. He could see shadows in the corner of his eyes moving with the light. Wind. There had to be some wind here. But if he could see shadows it had to be dark. It was night? Or he was under the surface, but still close enough for the wind to reach?

He blinked a few times. The blood had clumped his eyelashes together, they were desperately trying to stick together.
It took him a few second to fully open them and adjust them to the light. He could see his thighs clearly now under him, his feet tied with thick rope that was keeping his body firmly to a chair. He observed the tight lines around his upper body and just now noticed that it was tight enough to actually hurt him and harden his breathing. His throat felt hoarse. He tried to breath in, but instead it turned into rasping and then coughing.

''Oh, looks who has finally woken up! Sleeping beauty is awake!'' He heard the voice from the other side of the room. It sounded too far away and unclear. But Izaya doubted that the person was actually far away. It was his head not working properly. Instead the person was probably standing right next to him.

And just thinking this, his head was suddenly grabbed and pulled up harshly by his hair. The raven hissed in pain and his vision started spinning again for a second.

In front of him stood a man. Red hair (or was it just the blood in his eyes?) and an evil grin spreading all over his face. The candle light just gave it the right shadows and Izaya immediately thought that he probably could never forgot this face again.

''You should look into my eyes when I talk to you, princess. Where are your manners?'' A disgusting laugh left the man's lips and if Izaya wasn't so weak right now, he would have spit right into his ugly face.

''Why …. '' The raven started but ended up coughing and desperately fighting for air. The ropes were just too tight, he almost couldn't breath properly.

''Why?'' He heard his question again, this time from the man in front of him. Was he mocking the raven? ''Did you just ask why?'' The tone sounded confused at first, but then turned into something aggressive, almost screaming. ''FUCKING WHY?''

Suddenly the raven's head was pulled harder upwards. He could swear his hair was being pulled out. Izaya was forced to look into the man's eyes right in front of him. They were so close, just inches away. He could see the brownish-yellow colour clearly in front of him, and he could feel the man's breath on his lips, almost making him want to puke.

What emotion was it that he could see in the man's eyes? Hate, disgust, loath?

But why towards him? Wasn't Izaya the one who should be hateful against them? For them hurting his sisters?

Did he know this guy? The raven tried really hard to search through his memories, any clients, any enemies of the yakuza that he had dealt with... but he couldn't come up with anything.

The man must have seen the confusion in the raven's eyes and an ironic laugh left his lips. He looked to the side for the second as if he couldn't believe the raven.

When he turned back something else had settled inside his eyes. The raven could still see the hate, but what was the other thing.. was it maybe sadness? Regret?

''So you clearly do not remember me, ne?'' The guy asked still the unbelieving, sad smile on his lips.

When the raven didn't answer, he just continued. ''Almost two years ago, my then fiancée was pregnant with my child. I still had a little debt to the yakuza to that time, but I worked hard every day to pay them back one day. Then you appeared. You promised to pay me the whole sum of my debt in one, if I did you a little favor.'' The man waited for a few seconds as if he was expected that the memory would magically return to Izaya but the raven kept silent once again. All he could do was to withstand the other guy's hateful gaze.

''To get rid of Shizuo Heiwajima.''

Izaya's eyes widened when he heard his lover's name. Still he wouldn't remember the man in front of him. Hell, over the years there had been a dozen of people that he had sent after Shizuo. He would tell these guys ''to kill him'', ''to beat him'', ''to just get him out of the city'', but nothing ever worked. Naturally. At one point Izaya guessed he even knew that no one could beat Shizuo after all. In the end he just did it to annoy the blonde from time to time.

''Back then, you told us we wouldn't have to kill him. Just make him never appear in front of you again. '' The man continued. Izaya knew that this wasn't the time, but all he could think about was what Shizuo would think of him if he heard this. Well, Shizuo clearly knew that Izaya had done these things in the past, but getting them told anew from a different point of view …. Shizuo, would you still love me if you heard this? If you knew what kind of person I was? I still am?

''We ended up being beaten to bloody pulps. But I guess, you knew that something like this would happen, am I right?'' He hesitated a few seconds but no answer followed. They both knew the answer anyway. ''Now the funny part starts. A security camera filmed our whole fight scene. Funnily, since we started the attack, the police arrested us in the end. And now comes the part when I swore to destroy you one day.'' He grabbed Izaya's hair again and forced him to look into his eyes. ''My fiancée left me and took our child with her when I went into prison. I lost everything. So I decided that I would make you lose everything too.''

''So this is what this is about … '' The raven mumbled through bloody lips. ''It was never about money. You never intended to let my sisters go anyway.''

''You are right. Of course, catching you with a lot of money would have been quite a nice gift but it didn't matter to begin with.''

A few seconds they just stared at each other without saying anything. The atmosphere was suffocating for the raven. Shizuo ...

''Izaya Orihara. You are a horrible and selfish human. And today you are going to get what you deserve.''

Shizuo …

''And with that said, let's give all our attention to your sweet little sisters!'' The man laughed. Suddenly he was holding a big knife in his hand that Izaya hadn't noticed before. He turned around and the raven noticed just then that he had actually been in the same room with his sisters all this time! They were hanging just a few meters away from him, attached to a couple of chains but the guy had been blocking his vision until now. Fear filled the raven. He violently tried to get rid of the rope around his hands but it wasn't working at all. All he could see were his helpless sisters and the candlelight reflection on the blade of the knife rendered by the blood in his eyes.

Shizuo. Please help me!

The man slowly approached his sisters with the knife. Their eyes were blindfolded. As soon as the cold metal touched Kururi's skin, Izaya could here small whimpers coming from her mouth. They grew more desperate when the blade was taken along her skin, however not pressed in deep enough to draw any blood.

''You know, I wondered how I would do this for a while now.'' The man began to speak again and Izaya shot him a hateful glare. ''would I just leave them blind and let you watch how I kill them?'' Saying that he let the blade strove along her neck causing his sister to shake violently. ''Or should I let them see how their brother is letting them die without helping?'' A grin spread across his lips saying the last words and he swiftly grabbed the cloth from her head and tore it down.

Suddenly his sisters eyes were free. At first they landed on the guy right in front of him widening in fear. Since she should have heard everything, her eyes were suddenly searching the room and finally landed on him. Izaya could see the panic in them.

He just wished he could grab her and tell her everything would be okay. That this was but a horrible nightmare. Instead he just stared back at her with wide eyes tears slowly showing in them. At one point her eyes had hold this hopeful glimmer in them as if Izaya could still save them. It was really small but it was there nonetheless. However, it vanished completely after a few seconds when the cloudy fog in her head finally vanished and just the reality of the situation left. Izaya couldn't do anything. This hopeful glimmer just started to disappear once the blade started to cut the young skin around her neck.

Small droplets of blood ran down the soft lines of her collarbone and disappeared under her shirt. At first Izaya couldn't hear any sounds coming from her. The strong girl was trying to pretend she was fine. And the raven knew that his sisters were strong. But this?!

It was too much. And just a matter of time until they couldn't take it anymore. Mairu was still blindfolded and no sound was coming from her either. Did she know what was going on?

Izaya tried once again to fumble with the rope around his hands but no matter what he tried it just wouldn't move. If he just had his switchblade… but he didn't know where it was now and even though he doubted that these guys would leave him armed. He couldn't wait for Shizuo either when his sisters were being tortured.

''Wait!'' he screamed into the room and suddenly the blade stilled for a second. It had just been about to cut into his sisters fragile face. The man turned to him a mask of ice on his face.

''I'm the one you hate! Please just torture me! Kill me if you want!'' He took a deep breath. The sudden outburst had caused a new wave of headaches running through his head. ''But my sisters are innocent and you know that…'' he whispered desperately.

The guy watched him for a few awfully long seconds scrutinizing his every feature. The blade was hanging to his side but at least it wasn't cutting his sister anymore. Suddenly he took a step back from her. Izaya exhaled. He hadn't noticed that he had hold his breath for so long.

''Thank you'' he whispered with relieve in his voice. He expected him to get closer but instead he turned around swiftly and rammed the knife into his sister's abdomen. The raven watched in horror as his sisters eyes widened in pain but instead of a scream a pained gargling left her mouth before blood started running down her lips. The man turned the knife within her body and her face contorted in pain while tears were screaming down her pale cheeks. All this time her eyes were fixed on Izaya as if he was the last remain in this world that she still believed into.

''No! Please stop!'' The raven screamed but it didn't help. Instead the man decided to pull the knife out again and rammed it another time into her. The amount of blood was horrendous. It started running down her legs in streams gathering in a puddle below her.

Mairu must have noticed what was going on since she started shaking the chains around her hands violently. Izaya could hear that she tried to scream something but he couldn't comprehend anything.

''Mairu…'' Izaya whispered. He was such a disgrace as an older brother, wasn't he? All he could do was cry while even his younger sister was still trying to fight.

''Please stop it…'' The raven whispered more to himself now. He didn't even know if he was talking to Mairu or the guy. Probably both.

When he stabbed a third time into the fragile body of his younger sister, Izaya could see the spasms that ran through her limbs. The chains rattled when her hands were shaking violently before her whole body went numb. And then Izaya watched the light fade from his sisters eyes. They were pointing to the ground in front of him now staring into nothingness.

Kururi was dead.

Just a few seconds passed before he could hear silenced screams coming from Mairu. His brain couldn't comprehend it at first. What was this feeling? His brain was telling him she was dead and would never come back but something in him was trying to convince him there was hope, that she would eventually look at him again. His eyes trailed towards the guy still holding the knife in his hand. Droplets of blood dropped to the ground from it. The silver blade almost not visible anymore. Izaya expected to see some mischievous grin on his face but instead he just kept looking at his sisters face, almost expressionless. What was he thinking? Was he regretting what he just did?

Then his head turned and their eyes met for a brief second. Still his face stayed expressionless meeting Izaya's eyes wet from tears, still in shock not being able to comprehend what had just happened.

''I told you. I wanted to make you suffer. To make you lose everything.'' And he said it as a simple statement, no hate included or anything similar. It was as if he was reading the headline of a newspaper. Then he exhaled briefly and turned his whole body to Izaya the grip on the knife tightening. ''To be honest, I didn't know that you were caring that much for your sisters. Actually I thought you would regret it just a little that you'd be responsible for their death but not that it would bring you to tears or even make you offer your own life in return. I simply did it because I wanted to rid you of everything precious before I kill you. Since you don't have children yourself, I thought the closest to a person that you'd care about would be your sisters. And God, how right I was about that.'' The guy was talking so casually about all of this that it made Izaya want to puke.

'You will regret this'' Izaya managed to hiss through gritted teeth hatred and tears burning in his eyes.

The man scrutinized him for a few seconds. ''Maybe'' he said casually after a while. ''But maybe not. In the end I don't really care anway'' And then he turned to the side. At first Izaya's eyes widened in fear thinking that the guy would now gave his attention to Mairu who was still trying to fight the chains around her hands. But instead he went to the other side of the room. Izaya followed each step with his eyes. The man finally stopped in front of a door. He opened it without hesitation screaming into the floor ''does anyone of you want his turn now?''

Then the man went out the room and Izaya could hear the fading voices behind thick walls. He couldn't understand any words but it wasn't as if he cared. All he was trying to do was to get the demon inside of him come to the surface. He was screaming mentally. Were was the bastard when he needed him?! He promised him everything. There was so much hate in his soul. Wasn't it enough to come and avenge his sister?! You can have it! My body! My soul! Take it! Just save at least Mairu! But the voices in his head stayed silent, it was only him screaming into nothingness.

Finally, the blond guy with the scar that he had seen before walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

Izaya raised his gaze and directed all his feelings towards him. The man stilled for a second and the raven could swear that he could see fear in his eyes. I will kill you! His eyes screamed but the man must have understood after a few seconds that it was but a hollow thread. The raven couldn't do anything in his current position and the man obviously knew it.

He almost expected the blond man to tell him his story but instead he just stared at the raven saying nothing.

Was there anything the raven could say to change the situation? To make them understand?

''I get it. I deserve this. I deserve everything. But my sisters, they don't. They are innocent'' He said quite firmly, surprised by his voice. The man just kept staring at him.

It was weird. Izaya couldn't really see the kind of hatred that he had seen before in the other man's eyes. Maybe this guy wasn't as angry? Maybe there was hope?

''Please'' The raven whispered in a last attempt. It was as if the other man was woken up from a day dream. Suddenly his muscles moved and his eyes widened just a little as if he had been thinking deeply while staring at the raven. Then he suddenly turned around and left the room again. Izaya almost expected the man to not come back. Had he given up? Would another guy come now trying to finish what this one couldn't? But then the door opened again and what Izaya then saw made his eyes widen in horror and fear.

The man was holding a baseball bat. And Izaya knew what this meant. It was either meant for him… or for his sister.

''Please don't hurt her'' he pleaded. He knew he was such a hypocrite. How often had he heard the pleads of other people and ignored them? Actually he himself had drawn his sick pleasure from them, being in power over someone else's life, playing with it.

These guys were disgusting. But Izaya was just as bad.

It wasn't surprising for him that them man ignored him and instead went to Mairu who was still shaking.

Izaya started screaming. ''No! Please take me!'' Over and over again but his pleads landed on deaf ears.

The room was so cold and hot at the same time, like dead stone and the temperature of a human's body. It was loud and silent, thick walls catching every sound but Izaya's voice kept ringing in his ears, echos being reflected by the walls.

He could hear Mairu's bones breaking when the first strike hit her. Silent cracks as if someone walks on wooden sticks, but reflected by the walls it's like a thousand small bones breaking. His sister's screams were muffled by the cloth in her mouth but he could see tears running down her blindfold and the blood gushing out her lips. The gurgling sounds she made sounding like she was shoking on her own blood.

It hurt. It hurt so much.

Still screaming and crying while one strike after another hit her. Her shoulder was hanging in a weird position as if the shoulder blade had been shoven into the middle of her body. Sometimes the chains were in the way but the man kept hitting without real focus. Just brutally hitting whatever his bat might find on the way. Sometimes the raven could catch a glimpse of his eyes, they were furious and wild, as if he had lost all rationality. He arrived at her head and the small bone of her nose was easily giving away under the bat. A horrendous amount of blood splashed across her whole face. He couldn't see her face anymore. Everything was red. The raven couldn't even recognize any features. He couldn't see her breathing or fighting anymore. Her small limbs were just hanging strangely and unmoving from the chains. Still the man kept hitting her like a bag no end in sight.

Once Izaya understood that Mairu was dead too, he stopped screaming and just kept watching how the man in front of him kept smashing her dead body.

He could look away. But the raven knew, he wasn't allowed to. This was his fault. But at the same time he couldn't stop the hate rising in his chest.

Love all humanity he had tried to stick to this. But isn't the human being just disgusting? It wasn't just these guys, it wasn't just Izaya. Izaya himself did all these horrible things and never cared what happened to others. He would probably cringe in disgust seeing someone being killed so brutally and look away, but if it wasn't his sisters right now would he even care? No, he wouldn't. He knew, he wouldn't. And if the situation was reverse and it was him with the bat with one of these guys in front of him, would he do it? Probably. Not because he was brutal or he liked killing people, but because he really hated these guys right now.

And that was when he understood. A human being would do anything in hate. It's just a part of them. To kill innocent people just to get rid of this hate, to get vengeance. It was in the human nature.

Then why should I love them? He thought to himself.

They don't deserve my love.

They don't deserve my attention.

They should just disappear.

And it echoed in his head over and over again while he still watched the man beating the rest of his sister to nothing.

They deserve death. It echoed again in his head and this time he wasn't even sure if it was still his own thought or if it came from somewhere else.

And the corner of his eyes started turning black rendering his vision.

You want to kill them all.

Yes!

They deserve it.

Yes!

Everyone of them.

Yes!

So let's make it happen.

And then everything went black.

Hey guys!

I'm sorry for not having updated for so long. I started studying a semester abroad and had for a couple of month finish double work at two universities because their starting and ending times were overlapping! *sigh* However, I finished around a week ago and I'm currently travelling in China xD I was writing the last pages on my mobile phone. If the format is weird, please tell me. Maybe I could try to change it, since I'm not used to writing stories on my phone ;)

There is just one chapter left now. So see you soon