Chapter 4

"Avalanche, sir?"

He bit his lip in thought. "No. We'll wait on that one for a bit. How about a small scale forest fire?"

"Yes, sir!"


Izaya suddenly stopped flitting about. He sniffed. "Do you smell that?"

Shizuo copied him, then his eyes widened. "Smoke!"

"I've talked for too long. We need to get out of here- now!" Grabbing Shizuo's arm, the brunet pulled the taller boy after him, running as fast as he could.

Flames erupted from the ground where they had just been standing. Their feet pounded down the gravel path, jumping over logs and boulders that Shizuo had tossed minutes earlier. Smoke began to crowd their vision, and sparks licked at their heels, adding the smell of singed fabric to the scene. As they circled around a rocky drop off, Shizuo saw a line of greyish blue and felt his heart soar. "Water!" he yelled.

Putting on a final burst of speed, he launched himself into the rushing river. With a splash, he was submerged. It flowed over him, and he felt his body become instantly and gloriously cooled. When his head resurfaced, he glanced around. "Izaya?"

The boy was still running along the side of the river.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET IN THE WATER!"

"I can't!" he yelled back, stumbling over a rock in his path. He refused to move the two feet to the right that would ensure his survival.

"CAN'T WHAT?"

There was a pause, then he choked out, clearly unwilling to admit it, "S-swim!"

"WHO CARES?"

The boy kept running, but his progress was slower. The fire was almost caught up with him, and Shizuo could see Izaya coughing from the smoke.

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" he bellowed, standing up at the bank of the river, water cascading off his hair and clothes. He stepped out of the water, not heeding the flames that were covering the ground. He sprinted through burning embers, quickly gaining ground on Izaya. When the smell of burning hair hit him, the smell of his hair burning, he knew that this was by far the worst idea he'd ever had. This was saying something, since he'd had some bad ideas over the years. "STOP RUNNING!" he yelled, leaping over several ashy logs and brushing a burning branch out of his face.

When Shizuo caught up with the boy (did it take seconds? Minutes? Hours?), Izaya was bent over, still coughing. "HOLD YOUR BREATH, FLEA!" With that, he wrapped an arm around the thin waist and dragged him to the side, sprinting toward the water. He jumped, and the two of them fell into the gurgling river with a long hsssss.

They were submerged for a few seconds, and then Izaya came back to the surface, flailing wildly.

"Just hold still, would you?" Shizuo tried to hold him, but he continued thrashing. "For goodness' sake, it's okay!"

"Get me out!" he panted, still sloshing water all over the place. "Get me out right now!"

Obediently, and somewhat amused, the blond swam them over to the opposite bank, which was mercifully free of fire. Dragging himself out of the water, Izaya flopped onto the ground and began coughing violently, expelling both water and smoke from his respiratory system. After about half a minute of this, he lay still, panting.

"So you're that afraid of water, huh, flea?" Shizuo, too, was panting, but he had a huge smile stretched across his face.

"Don't mention this to anyone, or you're dead, protozoan." He turned his head to face the other boy, still catching his breath. Slowly, a grin to match Shizuo's made itself known. "Well, I guess this means you're with me on this?"

"Despite my better judgment, I-"

"You have no better judgment. You just ran into a fire to save your worst enemy."

"Look, I'm doing not doing this for you. I'm doing it for Kasuka. And you'd better watch your back, or you could find yourself thrown in a river."

"Please tone it down, Shizu-chan; I'm shaking in my boots here."

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP ALREADY?"


Mikado and Masaomi stopped to watch the smoke billowing above the trees somewhere off to their left. As they heard shouts echoing in their direction, Mikado turned to his friend nervously. "Should we run? The fire seems to be coming this way."

"Nah," Masaomi shrugged. "It's not like a real fire. This whole arena is divided up into separate areas, and the natural disasters that happen in one place won't go farther than their specified bounds. That fire's probably going to stop before it reaches us."

"If you say so." He still sounded unsure.

"Why are you so nervous? I mean, yeah, we're stuck in this life or death game, but you're with me, Mikado! I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

He didn't say anything, but frowned at the ground with his hands shoved into his pockets.

Rocks crunched underfoot as someone ran towards them. The sound of panting met their ears, and Orihara Izaya sprinted into their field of vision, dodging around tree after tree. He was grinning. "Ah, it's Masaomi-kun and air conditioner boy!" Slowing down, he stopped in front of them.

"Air conditioner boy?"

"Didn't I tell you? Your name reminds me of an air conditioner. It's not that it's a bad thing; it just does."

Masaomi crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at Izaya. "Why are you wet?"

"Isn't it obvious? I was getting away from a fire. What you should be asking is why I'm running, when we all know that that fire isn't going to catch up to us."

"Oh, please don't tell me that Shiz-"

"IIIIIZAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAA!"

Izaya's grin grew exponentially. "Well, it was nice catching up with you two, but we'll have to meet up some other time." He sprinted past them as a large tree fell to the ground.

Shizuo stood there fuming, one leg on top of the downed tree. "GET BACK HERE, YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE LOUSE!" Mikado and Masaomi ran to the side as Shizuo launched himself off the tree trunk and barreled towards Izaya's retreating form. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU, AND THEN I'LL DIG YOU UP AND KILL YOU AGAIN!"

"Logic's never really been his strong suit."

"KILL KILL KILL KILL…."

Shizuo's less than melodious voice faded into the distance.


As the sun dipped below the trees and rocky outcroppings, Mikado and Masaomi continued walking through the woods. "Where do you think we should stay for the night?" asked Mikado, folding his arms across his chest and shivering slightly. "It's getting pretty cold out here."

"There's probably a good cave around here, or at least a couple boulders that can give us shelter." Masaomi clapped a hand onto his friend's back. "Keep your eyes out for one, and we'll take the first one we find."

"Ok."

In the fading light, they could see a large stack of boulders ahead and to their right. "How about that one? We can set up camp and protect any poor and attractive damsels in distress that come along. They'll appreciate our manliness and chivalry and will fall for us head over heels. I can imagine it now, Kida Masaomi and his beautiful girl as star-crossed lovers in the teen tragedy of the Hunger Games. The Capital will have to call it off because too many viewers will ball their eyes out at- Hey, are you even listening to me, Mikado?"

Mikado had walked into the middle of the circle of boulders, setting his bag on the ground and sitting cross-legged next to it. "Do you think we can start a fire?"

"Nah, we don't want to attract too many tributes. If you're cold, just snuggle with me. What are best friends for, anyway?"

"That's just weird, Masaomi."

"Aw, c'mon; I know you'd want to snuggle up next to Anri, you flirt."

"Stop it! We're not… it's not like that!" But the shadowed face of Mikado looked guilty enough that Masaomi knew exactly what mental picture had just crossed his friend's mind.

Masaomi leaned against the rock wall, then slid down it until he was seated right next to his friend. "Hey, it could be worse."

The boy sighed. "I know."


In the surveillance room, the leader was sitting back in his chair, feet up on a desk. "What's the death count for today?"

"Three, sir."

"Only three?"

"To be fair, we only gave them a few hours before dark this year."

"True. All I'm saying is that if there isn't a bloodbath tomorrow, we're making one. Get ready to play the slideshow in a couple minutes."

"Yes, sir."


Masaomi had finally stopped talking, so the two friends were huddled together in silence, backs against the hard boulder. Suddenly, they heard the rustling of foliage and the quiet snapping of twigs. Masaomi felt Mikado tense up beside him, so he whispered, "Well, if they're this quiet, we know it's not Shizuo, at least, so we're probably fine."

"Shizuo's not the only one I'm scared of." Mikado whispered back.

"Masaomi?" A soft voice said, close to the opening of the circle of boulders. "I heard you talking earlier, so I know you're in there. Can I join you?"

Masaomi's face lit up. "Saki!" he called. "Yeah, you can join us!"

"Us?" A delicate face peaked around the edge of the rocks. Although the sun was completely gone by this point, Mikado could make out narrow eyes, short brown hair, and a mouth that smiled as she caught sight of them. "Who's your friend?"

"Saki, this is my friend, Mikado." He stood up, motioning towards the girl. "Mikado, this is Saki, my…"

"Girlfriend," she supplied, the smile still evident on her pretty face.

Mikado's jaw dropped open. "You actually have a… she's…"

"Aw, don't act so surprised." Throwing a possessive arm around her shoulder, he grinned. "How could a handsome specimen such as myself not have a girl as beautiful as Saki?"

"But you're always talking about flirting and picking up chicks! I mean, sorry, maybe I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean any offense, Saki."

"That's ok," she nodded at him. "I know he's always flirting with other girls, but it's alright. We're destined to be together, so I know he'll always come back to me."

A bit weird, but ok. As long as their system worked for them, he wasn't about to throw stones. "If you don't mind my asking, how do you know you're destined for each other?"

"Oh, that's easy," replied Saki as Masaomi grimaced. "Izaya said so."

"You know Izaya?"

"Of course! Masaomi and I used to go to school with him before he got kicked out and transferred to District 12. We were friends."

"I wouldn't go so far as saying that we were friends."

"Izaya got kicked out of a district? Why?"

"Well, there are plenty of stories, of course," Masaomi explained, "but the rumor is that he stabbed someone. And not just anyone, either. It just so happened that it was Kishitani Shinra, who happens to be a tribute from District 9 in the Hunger Games this year. Of course, that's all just a rumor."

"Wow, talk about a coincidence!"

Saki just smiled, a slightly disconcerting smile that Mikado couldn't help but find eerily familiar.

Behind the two lovebirds, the Capital Seal lit up the night sky, and music started playing. They all sat down to watch as the faces flashed on the projection, showcasing the three tributes that had died today.

"Only three, huh?" Masaomi shook his head. "Disappointing, right?"

"Well, they're only getting started." Saki leaned her head into his chest, then turned her head to look up at him. "I'm sure there will be plenty more tomorrow." She lifted her head up, looking Masaomi in the eyes, then leaned in and kissed him. He closed his eyes, and she broke away after a second, whispering something in his ear. His eyes snapped open, widening. "Really? I must've forgotten."

She nodded.

"Well, in that case," he leaned toward her and kissed her again.

Mikado shuffled away from them, holding his knees with his arms. He had a feeling this was going to be a long night.


Thanks for all the feedback so far! It's getting close to the school year, and I've got to get all my stuff ready for my first year at college, so I'm probably going to have less time to write. Updates may be more spread out. (But since when have I actually updated on a schedule?) We'll see. Anyway, just because y'all know Izaya's plan now doesn't mean there aren't more plot twists to come, so stay with me. :) Let me know what you think; I love to hear from you!

~JW