It continues. . .
. . .
Chapter 3: Three French Hens
. . .
Shizuo woke up on this cold December morning with a headache and wet sheets. He got up groggily to go outside for a smoke. With as cold as it was outside, who needs a cold shower? Little Djali followed sniffing the patio for a potty spot. After his smoke, Shizuo make a quick breakfast for him and Djali, then got in the shower to get ready for work.
Djali watched as his new master got ready to go beat up people. Just as Shizuo put on his shoes, Djali poked his into the small closet and pulled out a bowtie that had fallen. Shizuo just stared at the puppy sitting down at his feet. "No little guy, you have to stay here." The little puppy wined giving the rough looking debt collector a sad look. With a heavy sigh, Shizuo picked up his little buddy with the bowtie. "Alright, just stick close, and don't get in the way. Got it?" The little puppy barked happily as Shizuo tied the bowtie around the puppy's neck. It looked like he and Tom had a new partner to help them.
With a puppy at his, and cell phone in hand, Shizuo was out and about. Wondering if Shinra had sent him anything after their early morning chat, Shizuo checked his phone. He was slightly surprised to see a message from that dating site he forgot he had signed up for. Most people who read the name Heiwejima often just froze up in fear at thought of that sort of relationship. So it was pretty surprising to see a request from a Miss Amayashi Sakura. Figuring it would just be nice to talk to someone, he accepted the friend request and closed his phone, focusing his mind on the jobs ahead.
Meeting up with Tom outside the bath house, where they were given a tip to where their target was hiding. The first thing Tom noticed was the eight-inch tall puppy. "Shizuo, what is that?"
"A dog that found me in the park yesterday." Djali barked puffing out his chest to make him look bigger. "Thought we could use an attack dog." Tom laughed making the small animal pout.
"Whatever you say, man. Whatever you say." Tom led the way inside the bath house, the small dog at Shizuo's feet.
They found their target, a fat man who owed a good 300,000 yen. He greeted them pretty coldly, lighting the petty short fuse that Shizuo had. Tom calmly asked the man for the money, which the man blatantly said he pay up when he'd pay up. Then he made comment about Djali and that was it. Shizuo was off before Tom could warn the man about him. Quickly, Tom picked up Djali and moved out of the way of Shizuo's monstrous rage. The fat man was quickly acquainted with the flat screen that was hanging on the wall.
Outside again heading for their next job, Shizuo lit another cigarette. "Who's next on the list?" Shizuo asked.
"An old man who use to run an escort business." Tom said checking his phone. "I'm sure the ladies will love the puppy." The man with dreadlocks chuckled.
"Yeah, I'm sure they will." Shizuo rolled his eyes. "I never understood why woman obsessed over puppies and stuff like that."
"Maybe you just don't understand women."
"You're right, I don't." Shizuo opened his phone and showed Tom the message he received earlier. "See what I mean." Tom's eyes widened. He took off glasses and wiped them off and looked at the message again.
"Someone sent you a date request on that site?" The shook in Tom's voice was hard to mask. "I thought you only made that profile because you lost a bet."
"I did." The blond grumbled at the memory of losing that bet with Celty. "So what do you think I should do?"
"I say just talk and if this Amayashi girl doesn't sound like an idiot, than see if things should progress from there." Tom said. "And you know what; maybe this is what you need."
"What are you talking about?" The tall blonde man asked.
The shorter man sighed and ran his hand through his dreads. "Look, I'm just saying, maybe finding a nice girl and starting a family wouldn't be such a bad idea. Who knows, maybe it'd settle you down a bit."
Shizuo stopped for a second and stared down at the small dog at his feet taking in Tom's words. It's not that he'd never thought about it, it's just he never thought it was a good idea. The thing that really haunted him was the fact that if he did settle down and he got angry that he'd lose his temper. He feared the outcome of that loss of temper. It would be too great a risk and he didn't want to risk losing something he'd gone to care for. So then why did he always try to-
"Hey, are you listening?" Tom said breaking through Shizuo's thoughts.
"Not really." Tom shrugged and the two of them went to their next job. . .
Once again at home, Shizuo placed the bag of dog food in the kitchen and walked over to the cabinets to get out a bowl. After feeding Djali, Shizuo sat at the table with his laptop. He sat there for several minutes . . .
Back to this morning. . .
Izaya was wondering the snowy streets looking for the blond man that he hated so much. He was really getting tired of this. But why? What was the reason for this need to see this other man? Normally when two people hate each other, they avoid each other. So why was it so important for them to run into each other? Izaya couldn't answer it himself. All he knew was that he didn't like to be ignored by Shizuo. He felt, very empty from the lack of negative attention. Sulkingly, Izaya sat down on the nearby bench kicking the snow. "Dammit Heiwejima! Where are you?" The man in the fur coat growled.
During his sulking, Izaya felt a vibration in his pants. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. A message reading 'Heiwejima Shizuo accepted your request' popped up. A wide smirk crept onto the flea's face. "Well Shizu-chan, looks like we get to play after all." That smirk that crept onto his face soon faded the second Izaya felt a strange clutching in his chest. What was this feeling? And why did it feel enjoyable? More than a little scared, Izaya ran off towards the one person he knew might have that answer.
"Izaya?" A very surprised underground doctor asked. "What brings you here?"
"Listen, I have a question." Izaya stepped passed Shinra and plopped down on his couch. "I'm sure you've heard of the event about Shizuo and me."
"I have, and may I say wow!" Shinra said putting the kettle on the stove. "Maybe he's finally letting go of all that hatred of you."
"I doubt it." Izaya squinted his eyes.
"Yeah, you're probably right. So what did you want to ask?"
Izaya was quiet for a moment. "I sent a message to Shizu-chan; just as a prank. Then after getting the reply, I felt this squeezing in my chest. What is that?"
Shinra was intrigued. He poured two cups of tea and handed one to Izaya before sitting down. "Well, I'm not sure. Want to tell me more?"
Izaya sipped his tea. "I guess you could say that I get a certain amount of enjoyment when Shizu-chan and I fight. It makes me very irritable when he ignores me. I can't explain it, but it just makes me so-so mad!"
"Izaya-now just listen-this is going to sound very strange." Shinra rose his hands in defense. "But have you ever thought that maybe you are . . . in love with Shizuo?" Izaya froze and the whole room seemed to go silent. Izaya just stared at Shinra with shocked eyes.
Then Izaya just started laughing. He laughed so hard that it hurt to breathe. "Oh-Shinra-you are too funny!" Izaya managed after a good long laugh.
"I wasn't joking, Izaya." Izaya stopped laughing. "See, your symptoms match the emotions and effects of being in love. When you see Shizuo, how do you feel? When you hear his name, what do you think? When think about him, what do you do? If you can answer these three questions with something positive and honest, it proves that you're in love. So let's test it out." Shinra put down his tea and picked up a pen and note pad. "Ok, so when you hear the name 'Heiwejima Shizuo, what do you think?"
'What do I think?' Izaya thought to himself. He sat back on the couch and thought about it. Heiwejima Shizuo. . . A smile, a small one, but still a smile crawled on his face. Shinra noted it and wrote it down: 1) smiles.
"Ok, now when you see Shizuo, how do you feel?" Shinra asked getting really excited. Izaya sighed and relaxed a bit.
"When I see him?" He closed his eyes. "I get excited. I-I get this rush of adrenalin and pleasure, I love it." The word love came out with a sigh.
"Mhm. Mhm." Went the scratching of Shinra's pen. "Now, when you think about him, what happens?"
Izaya shrugged. His hand fell to his waist and he slouched down. "Now, all I can think about is 'how dare he ignore me!'. I don't like him ignoring me! And now it seems he's avoiding me! What gives?"
Shinra sat still for a few minutes gathering his thoughts before speaking. "Now, after all that, you still think that you're not in love?" Izaya's face completely changed. His eyes widened and mouth shrank. Then it happened again. The clutching his chest started again. Then his heart started to race. Was it true? Was he in love with the very guy he despised? It all made sense, yet it doesn't. How could he love someone he hated? It was all very confusing.
After leaving Shinra's, he was left with more questions then answers. Izaya just stood there in the cold snow, very confused, very scared, and very much alone. What was he going to do? He couldn't just walk up to Shizuo and put Shinra's theory to the test. Though he'd very much like to. He just knew it wasn't the best idea.
That night he checked his computer. A message from Shizuo to Amayashi Sakura, the girl that Izaya was posing as, showed up. Izaya opened it,
"Hello Amayashi-kun."
Izaya smiled. "Hello Heiwejima-san. How are you today?"
"I don't really know. I'm not angry, which is pretty good, I guess. How about you?"
"I'm great, now that I'm talk to someone. You see, I've been feeling pretty lonely lately."
"Really? Why's that?"
Izaya stopped for a moment. What was a believable story? Without a thought, he started typing. "Well, there's this guy that I know and kinda liked has just been completely ignoring me. And what sucks is that we're so close, it hurts knowing that he's not talking to me."
"Wow, he sounds like a jerk. What type of guy is he?"
The conversation went back and forth. Sure, Izaya had to make some stuff up to continue the conversation, but he found it really easy to talk to Shizuo. So easy he began to wonder if he was really talking to the monstrous blond he knew all too well. Also, he began to feel a yearning that in his chest every time he sent a response to Shizuo and anxiously waited for the next response. And when the conversation ended and they said their goodbyes.
Izaya went to bed, but failed to find sleep. Instead he was plagued by his bodily functions. All night he tossed and turned before getting up and jumping into a cold shower. Only after that, did Izaya fall asleep. And started to caught a cold.