A/N: There seems to have been a small problem when I tried to publish this chapter earlier XD I don't know what happened! Everything turned into code-language. Well It hopefully works now. There were also quite a lot of annoying mistakes with the text that just made me want to quit. But here it is! xD ENJOY~!

"Shinra, you're misunderstanding me, this isn't like the last time. I'm leaving for a while, not staying underground and just keeping a very low profile." Izaya argued with his friend over the phone. He was currently skipping his way through Ikebukuro because he needed to buy some groceries. But he mingled in with the crowd the best he could, the more people around him, the safer he felt.

He was constantly paranoid that something would pop out of the dark alleys and wrap their ugly shadows around him, eventually pull him into the darkness where nowhere could hear his dying screams of agony coming from his worst fears. He shivered, and held tighter onto his favorite blade, hidden safely in his pocket.

"Are you alright Orihara-kun? You sound a bit off." Shinra spoke up by the other end of the line. The raven sighed. "Shiki-san told me that someone were after me, I'm a bit uneasy because I don't know anything other than only that."

"Ahh, yes. You've always hated being kept in the dark, haven't you? This must be truely scary for you then."

He rolled his eyes at the snicker he heard from his friend. "I'm not scared. I don't know what I'm dealing with and it makes me uneasy not knowing."

"You could always hire a bodyguard."

"Oh please, Shinra. Like I would trust a stranger and put my life in their hands. They could stab me in my sleep for all I know, if it so happened to be someone who actually knew me."

"Your paranoia is weird, and dramatic to say the least."

Shinra chuckled.

"And that comes from the one person who keeps their loved one's head away from them in fear of rejection."

"Touché."

The informant grinned wickedly and skipped further down the street. Eventually arriving at his destination with succes. And upon stepping into the white and cool spaced area, the raven could feel himself relax more easily. But Izaya knew best, and kept his guard op.

'Just buying a little something so I don't starve myself~' Izaya thought to himself happily while picking out certain fruits and vegetables.

It was so quiet now, Izaya almost forgot for a moment that he was still on the phone with Shinra. "Hey Shinra, are you still hanging on?" Izaya wondered out loud and looked at his phone for a second to be sure that the brunette didn't hang up on him.

"Ah yeah, I just thought I heard someone scream. But then again, people always scream in this place." Shinra chuckled. Izaya noted the nervous tone coming from his friend in the back of his brain and went back to his shopping.

"What happened to being a peaceful underground doctor?" Izaya mocked in a teasing voice. He could basically imagine Shinra's annoyed stare bore into his head through the tiny phone.

"Shut it. In reality, whose fault was it that I got discovered?"

"And exactly who also got you out of jail in the process?" The informant grinned at the sigh he could hear on the other end.

It once again became quiet between the two, yet none of them had left the other hanging.

Izaya cursed a bit on the inside as he noticed that it was already getting dark outside. He had to remind himself that now that the season was directed towards winter, the days were shorter after all.

"Orihara-kun, I feel like there's something off."

Shinra whispered into the phone. Izaya's smile fell a little at the sudden change in his friend's voice. But he kept his optimism high.

"Now who's the paranoid one now?" He joked. But no laugh or the slightest chuckle was recieved by the other end. When Izaya had walked out of the loud store, he walked into the silent darkness with a focused expression. Now that his surroundings were silenced, he could hear Shinra's quiet breathing through the phone, clear like crystals. Izaya's steps got slower and slower as he entirely focused his hearing on the other end of the line.

He did hear a faint sound that he could only recognize to be yelling, perhaps screaming. But it was so faint, so quiet, like it was only from his paranoid imagination. Only his mind mixing with his paranoia and causing such a heavy feeling to choke him. It felt intense, and he was almost about to call out to Shinra, asking if everything was alright. But instead he just listened more.

"Russia sushi good! It fanstastic, It amazing!"

"!"

Izaya jumped in shock by the loud and familiar voice, he had turned by a corner and ended directly up in front of Russia sushi. The raven sighed and tried to stay calm and get his fast heartbeat to slow down.

Simon immediately noticed the heavy breathing raven in the corner, and scooted over to the smaller man with a welcoming smile on his lips.

"Yo Izaya! Hungry? You look like you've seen ghosts." Simon laughed heartly and gently clapped the informant's shoulder. Izaya groaned quietly and shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about. And no, I in fact, have just bought food. So if you'll excuse me—"

Just as Izaya was about to walk past Simon, the friendly giant jumped in front of him and blocked the path completely from the smaller man's eyes. That only made the raven groan a tiny bit louder as he looked up at Simon in annoyance, and gave him the kind of stare, screaming 'alright, get on with it.'

"What is it Simon. I have better things to do." Izaya smirked casually, a little annoyance hiding in the devil's smile. "You look pale, sushi help! Sushi makes everything alright." The bigger man grinned. Izaya only rolled his eyes and stepped to the side, allowing him to continue his path. "I'm afraid It won't be today Simon, I'm low on money."

He heard the russian man behind him bark out a loud laugh. "That was a good joke. You'll always want sushi either way." And with those words said, he continued his way down the street.

"Ah, Shinra, you still there?" Izaya talked into the phone. And he wouldn't admit it out loud, but he felt the tiniest bit of relief when he heard the brunette sigh from the other line. "Yeah yeah, don't you worry about me."

"So who do you think is after you this time?"

" 'this time' you speak as if It's a casual thing~!" Izaya made an over dramatic sigh that got the ex-underground doctor chuckling for a second. "It's not so surprising anymore. You piss off quite a lot of people. I think you could be in the world record guiness book if you tried harder."

"I'm supposed to call you my friend?"

"You only got that now after so many years of friendship?"

"Oh, I've always considered you to be in the acquaintance-zone, Shinra." Izaya fired back with a grin.

"I'm wounded. Deeply."

"Good thing you're a doctor then, and even one with a real license."

Izaya felt comfortable. It wasn't everyday that Shinra and him could have a normal conversation. Or, as normal as it could be that is. They were both busy men, caught up in their own worlds. Sometimes it even felt like the other person didn't exist just because of it. Izaya found it quite sad, and was from time to time jealous that his friend spend more time with his headless girlfriend than his only friend.

Or should he say, second only friend?

"Oi, Shinra. How can it be that I never heard of Heiwajima Shizuo from you? There's quite a lot of articles with your name written in them." The informant hummed. There was a moment of silence before the doctor spoke up.

"Well I did plan on introducing you two back in school, honestly. But then you went studying abroad. And when you came back, people had already gotten Shizuo thrown into an asylum. So I just forgot it, or moved on I guess. You were busy with so many other things."

Izaya listened closely to his friend's words and let the information stick to his brain like glue. He remembered when he went studying abroad in Europe, it was his second last year of school.

"Well that certainly explains why I haven't heard much about him..." the informant mumbled quietly to himself. Probaby not even aware that he said it out loud.

"This person— monster, whatever he is. What do you know about him?" Izaya found himself asking. A part of his was surprised that he wanted to learn about the psychopath in the first place, but of course the excitement quickly took completely over.

"Orihara-kun, you cannot use Shizuo-kun as your pawn." Shinra told him sternly. Izaya's smirk only spread wider, and he couldn't help the chuckle that slipped through his lips.

"As if I even could in the first place, you wound me deeply Shinra. I'm not even that stupid." He grinned and spun a little around himself, enjoying the cold air wrapping around his slim body and making him breath clouds of warm air.

"Using Heiwajima Shizuo as a pawn is nearly impossible! His mind is messed up to the point where I bet he couldn't see the difference between a human and a monster. Although, they would all probably look like monsters in his eyes, hehe. It wouldn't surprise me if he turned out to be yet another demon like Saika." The informant ranted cheerfully. The conversation was turning exciting.

"Shizuo-kun is very human."

"I'm baffled that you're even able to call him that after you've seen his bloodied hands over and over. But then again, if you see Celty as human, then how should Heiwajima Shizuo be any different in your eyes~?"

"Ah, but that's where you're a little bit off the track Orihara-kun~! I don't necessarily see my dear Celty as human. But in this case, I would see Celty as more human than Shizuo-kun. But neither parties are purely monsters in my eyes."

"You call a maniac with inhuman strength human? He's nothing but a monster who wasn't teached what mercy is."

"Sounds like you did your research, why need to know any more about Shizuo-kun in the first place?"

"Oh please Shinra. I'm an informant. The more information I can gather, the better I feel. Hearing those tiny details nobody else knows yet is like opening a present on christmas eve!" Izaya gleamed in a flat voice, his smile had stopped widening because his cheeks hurt, and he happily skipped faster down the street upon seeing that he was near his flat.

"Well... Shizuo-kun is very fond of milk and sweets."

Izaya was about to chuckle until he winced away from his phone in slight pain. The loud noise ringed in his ear and he almost wanted to glare at it. It sounded like Shinra had dropped his phone.

"What the hell! HOW DID YOU—"

"Oi, Shinra. What's going on?" Izaya winced at the sound of his friend yelling so loud, but suddenly. The line went dead.

Cold sweat trickled down the informants back. His heart hammered against his ribcage. What in the world—

"Oi, Shinra. This isn't funny." He grumbled as he dialed the doctor's number again.

It went straight to voicemail.

"Shinra.." Izaya felt himself get as cold as the weather around him. Why wasn't he answering? What happened on the other line that made Shinra go into panic?

He sighed, and placed his phone back in his pocket. Shinra was obviously not going to call back in that moment, so he couldn't do anything other than blow out some air and walk home in the cold night.

.

.

The informant was just about to step into the warm building, when he felt his phone buzz against his thigh.

Izaya hesitated for a second. He only stared down at his pocket while his stomach twisted. He slowly reached his pale porcelain hand into the warm space and pulled the noisy phone out. It was coming from Shinra.

He slowly took the phone up to his ear and made his way into the building. He would normally just take the stairs, but the idea of going around corners made him feel slightly uneasy for some reason. So he decided on the elevator.

Izaya wanted to say something into the phone, but he patiently waited for the other person on the other end of the line to speak up.

He stepped into the small spaced area and pushed the buttons. He watched as the doors closed. He imagined how something would stop the doors from closing for a second, a foot or a pair of hands. But nothing happened. Nothing at all.

"Oi.. Who is this?"

He didn't recieve a reply. But he did recieve something.

The raven could hear clear heavy breathing.

It wasn't Shinra's voice.

Izaya jumped when the elevator suddenly stopped on the second floor. The lights flickered a little for a moment, but eventually went back to normal.

However, the elevator stayed where it was. It's doors completely closed. And the raven could hear nothing but silence...

And footsteps.

"What the..." the raven let the phone fall from his ear, and let his arm rest at his side as he stared at the two elevator doors, very slowly being pushed from each other.

He didn't know what he felt. But it was something very similiar to fear. He refused to admit that he felt scared. The informant cursed silently at his beating heart that made the situation feel so much worse while he backed up against the cold elevator wall.

"IIIIIzaayaaaa..." came the low voice from the other side. Said raven quickly found his switch blade from his pocket and prepared himself for the worst.

Two rough hands were now visible and teared the two steel doors apart. And the sight of a certain blond haired monster made Izaya's stomach drop, and his skin shiver in fear.

"Oi!" The face of the maniac person didn't even smile as he reached his arm inside the elevator. Directed towards Izaya. The long slender fingers reached towards him, and Izaya couldn't yell, couldn't do anything but stay backed up against the cold steel wall. Waiting for the worst to happen.

.

.

.

.

.

"Nng..."

The world was blurry. The sounds, far far away from his mind.

Izaya slowly opened his dark colored eyes and yawned quietly. He was in his bed? With his sleeping clothes on too?

He breathed out calmly. It was just a dream after all. He remembered the phone incident with Shinra. That was reality. He was honestly still a little concerned seeing as it didn't seem like he had called back yet.

He sighed and closed his eyes again for a short moment. He had been so terrirfied a moment ago. It felt so real. It seemed so real. It was amazing what the human mind was capable of.

"Great, I'm so sleep deprived that I can't even remember going to bed in the first place.." he groaned unhappily and jumped out of bed, immediately dressing in his normal dark jeans and V-neck shirt.

He walked over to the door and rested his pale hand on the handle. Something made him stop right in his actions.

The informant frowned and softly removed his hand without making noise, and leaned his ear against the cold metal door.

He could hear breathing.

Someone else was in the apartment.