"Shit," Shizuo hisses. He raises his large hand, pushing the doorbell to the door in front him. "Shit, shit, shit, shit." He was getting impatient. The door slowly creaked open, revealing Shinra's face.

"Shizuo!" He exclaims. "I'm guessing you're here for Hakari! Well, you see…" Shinra continues to talk, going on about Hakari, but Shizuo wasn't paying attention. He pushes past Shinra and enters the apartment.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," He continues to mumble. Celty catches sight of him. She runs to him, trying to calm him down.

Shizuo, calm down! She's not here! Celty types.

"Where is she?" He asks, clenching his fists.

"We don't know. I tried to explain that to you at the door," Shinra explains. His arms were crossed and he was smiling thoughtfully at Shizuo.

"She left again?" This time Shizuo's voice was calm, but a hint of sadness laced itself through.

We don't know…. Cely types. Shizuo grunts as he walks out of Shinra's building.

I should have followed her yesterday, Shizuo tells himself. But that damn flea...

He walks down a busy street, ignoring everyone's frightened stares. Shizuo begins to get angry again as he thinks about Hakari. Not wanting his thoughts to wander, he pulls out a cancer stick and begins sucking the life out of it. "Shit." The sounds of people chit-chatting fills his ears. Laughter and random music dancing around him somehow calms him down. He continues to walk down the street, keeping his eyes locked on the ground.

"Shizuo! You eat sushi? Hakari will eat sushi later!" Simon's voice breaks through Shizuo's thoughts.

"Hakari will be eating here?" Shizuo asks, looking up from the ground. His heart began to beat fast, echoing in his head.

"Yes. She went to school, but said she'll eat later." Simon's huge smile was plastered on his face. He pushed a flyer towards Shizuo, but Shizuo just ignored his large hand.

School?

"What are you saying? She's twenty-one years old, she doesn't go to school."

"Ah, but Iz-" Simon begins, but gets cut off.

"Yo,Shizuo! I've been looking for you, man. Break is over."

Shizuo turns away from Simon to see Tom. The dread-locked man had a hand on his head as he gives Shizuo a worried look. "Thought you disappeared on me."

"Oh, hey. Sorry about that, Tom-san. Let's get going."

The pair walks away, Shizuo forgetting about Hakari and the school thing, since he didn't understand. Better to not trouble yourself with those kinds of things.

The work day went by rather slowly. Most of the people Tom and Shizuo confronted didn't have the money, which caused Shizuo to get very angry. The frustration with Hakari just made every little thing irritable. Not to mention the disgusting buildings they visited. Dust and shit everywhere. Literally.

"Well, today wasn't very successful," Tom says.

"Yeah," Shizuo agrees. The two walk into Russia Sushi, taking seats near the back.

"You seem a little more irritable today. Anything on your mind?" Tom asks, leaning back into the booth. He hangs an arm over the seat, resting his head on the other one.

"It's nothing," Shizuo mutters. Simon comes by and takes their order, then leaves them to eat. After a few minutes of silence, the door opens.

"Hakari!" Simon's voice echoes through the restaurant. Shizuo's heart begins to beat again. He stands up quickly, causing Tom to jump.

"Whoa, Shizuo. What's up?" He asks. Shizuo doesn't pay attention. He looks forward, eyes latching onto a woman with long, brown hair. She was wearing a black beanie and was holding a...Doberman?

"Oh! You bring puppy?" Simon asks her.

"Yeah! Isn't he cute?" She smiles that beautiful smile that Shizuo loves. The people around her give her weird stares. That wasn't uncommon. It used to happen to both Shizuo and her when they were younger.

"It looks scary," Simon admits. It was true. The small Doberman's nose is scrunched up. It shows its teeth as it growls, looking around. Its small ears were cropped upwards.

"Aw, he's not scary. He's adorable! I found him a little while ago walking back from my talk with Mikado. I'm going to feed him some sushi." The puppy growls at Simon as he reaches to pet him. Simon withdraws his hand, smiling nervously.

"Ah...yes. Sushi good, even for puppy." Simon leads the girl and the puppy to the back. Shizuo watches her, drowning out all sound except for her soft footsteps and the beating of his own heart.

"Hakari," He says calmly when she passes him. Hakari turns her head to the side and spots him.

"S-Shizuo…" She whispers. The puppy stops growling and looks at Shizuo also. It tilts its head. Shizuo unintentionally glares at Hakari, anger building up in him.

"Please don't look at me like that, I'm sorry," She says. She looks away from him. Shizuo widens his eyes for split second before looking away from her. He sits back down in his seat, making room for her. She gets the memo and sits beside him. Once she arranges the puppy onto her lap, it jumps down and makes itself comfortable between her and Shizuo. It then looks up at Tom and begins to growl. Tom nervously glances between Shizuo, the puppy, and Hakari.

"Don't growl, Puppy," Hakari says, petting its head. It stops instantly. Tom visibly relaxes. The woman orders some sushi before Tom greets her.

"Hello, I'm Tanaka Tom," He says with a small smile.

"Hello, my name is Muto Hakari. It's a pleasure to meet you, Tanak-san." Hakari says, her smile ten times bigger.

"Please, call me Tom. And, the pleasure is all mine. I didn't know Shizuo had such a pretty friend." Tom leans in, propping himself up on his elbows. Shizuo grunts. "How did the two of you meet?"

"He saved my dear friends," Hakari says.

"He did?" Tom raises an eyebrow at Shizuo.

"Yes. They were my only friends at the time. I don't know what I would have done."

Before Hakari could explain, Simon arrives with the sushi. The large, Russian man sets the two plates in front of the woman and the dog. They both immediately scarf down their food. Shizuo smiles lovingly at her as Tom stares at her in disgust.

"How did he save your friends?" Tom asks once she was done eating. "Were they really hurt?"

"Oh right, we were talking about that," Hakari says, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. "They were really hurt. He put their heads back on," She says.

Tom gives her a confused stare.

"What?!"

Shizuo thinks back to their first encounter as Hakari retells the tale to Tom.

5 year old Shizuo sat in his chair by the window. It was the beginning of the school year, and the desks were sorted by two, each pushed up against each other. The little boy looked at the desk beside him.

"Another person to scare off," He muttered. He rested his head in his hand as he gazed out the window. Moments later soft sobs came from the seat beside him. Shizuo quickly turned around, eyes wide. He didn't even notice someone sit down.

He saw a girl, smaller than him, rubbing at her eyes. Her tears fell on the desk, causing a big pool to form.

'Crying because she has to sit with me?' Shizuo thought. He gulped.

"Why are you crying?" He asked, harsher than he intended. He winced at his own tone.

"Some boys broke-" She started as she looked at him, but stopped once she saw who he was. Shizuo feared this the most. He braced himself, waiting for her scream. To his surprise, she smiled. Smiled very big.

"You're Heiwajima Shizuo!" She exclaimed. Her eyes grew bright. Shizuo nodded stiffly. "You're really strong, right?" Her eyes twinkled with hope. Shizuo nodded again.

"Then, can you fix this?" She asked, holding up two Barbie dolls. Er, Barbie bodies. She laid them on the desk before bringing out their heads in her pocket. "I can't get them to stay."

Shizuo grabbed a Barbie body and a head. His little fingers began pushing the head onto the body, trying to use as little force as possible. He gasped when he accidentally pushed it too far, causing the Barbie's neck to disappear. Shizuo glanced at the girl with worry.

She was smiling. The tears had completely stopped.

"You fixed it! Oh thank you, Shizuo! Can you do the other one?" Shizuo nodded again. He 'fixed' the other barbie. He handed the neckless dolls back to her. The girl jumped up and hugged him, making the little boy tense up. Fear rose in him at the unfamiliar contact. It soon subsided as he relaxed a bit.

"Let's be friends, Shizuo." Hakari let go of Shizuo and smiled once again, this time showing her teeth. Shizuo noticed that one of her front teeth were missing.

"Aren't I scary?" He asked.

"Why?"

"Well...I'm really strong…" Shizuo rubbed his arm.

"Shizuo, you aren't scary. You're really nice and adorable. No one else would fix my doll for me, so thank you!"

"Oh," Tom let's out a breath. "They were just dolls..."

Shizuo glances at Hakari as she continues to talk to Tom. When she finishes, she looks at Shizuo too. Tom was smirking at the both of them.

"Sorry," She whispers. "I didn't mean to leave without saying anything. I had to-"

"None of my business," Shizuo cuts her off.

"Right…" She mumbles. An awkward silence found its way over the three people and the dog.

"So, you left?" Tom asks. This causes Hakari to blush in embarrassment.

"I did. I only left for a few years," Hakari rubs the back of her head.

"Five," Shizuo mutters.

"Right...five.." She looks away from the two men.

"And you knew Shizuo since you were five years old?" Tom asks, his voice filled with awe.

"Yes. I first fell in love with him when he fixed my dollies. Ever since I've always dreamed of marrying him," Hakari says, flashing Tom a pearly smile. Tom stares at her stunned. Shizuo did too, his mouth slightly agape. He knew she loved him, but he never knew she wanted to marry him.

"You sure are bold," Tom says, amusement in his voice. Hakari tilts her head at him, along with the puppy. "What are your thoughts, Shizuo?" Tom directs his attention towards his strong friend.

"Whatever," He mumbles, slightly annoyed. He wonders why Tom keeps interrogating Hakari. Perhaps he genuinely wants to understand. Something in Shizuo's mind doubts that though.

Honestly, he was happy to hear Hakarisay that. After five years of being apart, she still loves him. Of course he loves her too. Another awkward silence passes. The dog lifts its head as Simon comes by to collect the plates. It begins growling at him. He quickly leaves, afraid of the puppy.

"Poor puppy," Hakari says. She picks the puppy up and rubs her nose against its snout. The puppy licks her face happily.

"Aren't you afraid of that thing? That's a Doberman puppy, those things grow up to be pretty scary… It's actually scary right now." Tom says, giving Hakari a concerned look.

"Where'd you even find that thing?" Shizuo asks.

"I don't think he's scary. I think he's adorable." Hakari answers, ignoring Shizuo's question. No need to bring up Izaya in their reunion. She scoots closer to Shizuo, shoving the puppy in his face. The puppy just looks at Shizuo for awhile. Then, t slowly puts its paw on Shizuo's face and begins licking him. Shizuo tenses at first, but he soon calms down. "Do you think he's scary?" Hakari asks.

"No," Shizuo smiles at Hakari. "I don't."

More on 'Solid Mask' in chapters to come! (Also, the puppy's origin. Stay tuned, even if it's just for him!) If you find any mistakes, please point them out and I'll fix them asap!