A/N: This is the edited version! Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Defeat

"So my little Shizu-chan wants to stop my plans. Hm?" Izaya said to himself. He couldn't hold his laughter in any longer. It was funny that the blonde thought he could stop the informant. Shizuo of all people should know better. His laughter was the only thing that could be heard in his otherwise quiet apartment.

The informant spun around and around in the chair in front of his desk. "This is great. I thought taking over Ikebukuro was going to be too easy. I like the challenge. Though Shizu-chan isn't much of one. Is he? He is just a dumb brute."

Izaya laughed and spun for a while longer then stopped suddenly. He brought himself closer to the desk of put his elbows on it while lacing his fingers together and rested his chin on his hands. The smirk was still on his face.

"Though I am surprise that he figured out that I am up to something," Izaya admitted in an almost whisper. He then let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes. "But he still does not know what. It's just like him to act on instincts alone." The informant opened his eyes again and his smirk grew. "Just like a dog."

The feud between the infamous informant and the debt collector's bodyguard certainly did not go unnoticed. It was common for Izaya and Shizuo to go at it like cat and dog or for them to run around Ikebukuro like cat and mouse, but for Shizuo to actually go to the informant's apartment without him first provoking the blonde was unheard of.

This current fight of theirs went on for months and as time went on, all of Ikebukuro seemed to be slipped up into either Team Shizuo or Team Izaya. People even seemed to make money off their fight by selling merchandise and betting on who they thought would win.

When betting on this fight, one had to remember Shizuo's strength. He could pick up vending machines and throw them at great lengths. But there was also his inability to control his own emotions, putting him at a disadvantage.

Then there was Izaya who was weak physically but had great knife throwing and handling skills. His arrogance and pride also puts him at a disadvantage for he doesn't know when he has met his match.

If the bodyguard controlled his emotions and thought a little before acting and if the raven haired man put away his arrogance and actually considered that there might be someone out there who could beat him, it would certainly make an epic fight between the two. But forthe moment they would just be evenly matched and their fight could go on for hours with no winner.

There were other views of the fight, such as Team Shizaya, fujoshis most likely, that had somehow come up with the idea that Shizuo and Izaya were fighting to see who would be dominant and who would be submissive, but we won't get into that.

"Orihara!" one of the Dollars members exclaimed as he burst through the door the informant's apartment. Izaya looked up from his computer screen to look at the man. "Trouble! Heiwajima beat up most of our men pretty badly! What should we do? We can't just keep sending them out there! It doesn't matter how many people we send out; Heiwajima is just going to beat them all up!"

To say the Dollars member was panicking was a serious understatement, and, even though he didn't show it on his face, Izaya was too.

The informant looked over at nothing in particular and thought, 'The brute is going to get in my way. I have to stop him, but how?'

The raven haired man was not going to let some monster like Shizuo foil his plans. Shizuo wasn't even smart enough to do so. Izaya would admit, playing with the brute was fun and all but to ruin the human-loving man's plan was not fun at all. Putting fun and games aside, the blonde would be stopped.

"Send out the all who can still fight to erase our little problem," Izaya said to the Dollars member with a smile that no one could tell whether he was happy or angry, and the Dollars member didn't want to stay to figure out either. The Dollars member left as fast as he came in.

Izaya sighed and got up from his chair to look out the window behind him. "Why, Shizu-chan? Why do you always get in my way when you know you'll lose?" Izaya was irritated. Maybe he caught Shizuo's bad mood.

Shizuo and Tom walked to their next client. Tom, just like everyone else, knew about Izaya and Shizuo's fight for Ikebukuro. Izaya wanted to control it for his own sick reasons and Shizuo just wanted peace. If the blonde had to eliminate the informant to have it, then he would.

Shizuo was irritable and more prone to violence than ever. This worried Tom. Tom looked at his watch and decided they had a little time.

"Hey, Shizuo," he said as his bodyguard turned around to look at his employer. Tom pointed his thumb toward the park to their left. "Let's sit and chat for a bit."

Shizuo looked over at the park and back at Tom. "I'm okay with it, but don't we have to get to the next client?"

"Don't worry about it," Tom said as he walked in the park toward a nearby bench. Shizuo hesitated before he followed Tom.

Tom and Shizuo just sat there. Shizuo didn't really mind, but didn't Tom have something he needed to say to him? Shizuo wondered if something was on Tom's mind or if something was wrong, but Shizuo didn't want to pry into it if his employer didn't want to talk about it. So he just sat there waiting. Waiting for what? He didn't know. He just waited for it to happen.

Shizuo had to admit, it was nice to just sit there. It cleared his head. No work. No flea. Just silence. It was… peaceful. Shizuo allowed his eyes to close as he listened to the trees rustle slightly in the wind and the birds chirp. When was the last time he felt so nice? The blonde wished everyday was like this.

"Feeling better?" the debt collector asked. The bodyguard opened his eyes to his employer. His employer had a soft smile as he looked at Shizuo. The blonde understood now that Tom brought him there because he knew this was just what Shizuo needed.

Shizuo gave him a small smile. "Yeah. Thanks." Tom got up and stretch as he said, "Sorry we can't stay here a while longer, but we do need to finish a job." Shizuo really was glad to have an employer like Tom. It's like Tom had a soothing effect on him somehow. Maybe it was the debt collector's laid back personality.

Shizuo got up too ready to face life again. That was until he heard a bunch of footsteps that sounded like a crowd coming their way. The crowd's footstep began to grow louder and louder as they came closer. Tom and Shizuo looked to the direction the noise was coming from out of curiosity. Once they saw the crowd, the crowd stopped and looked in the debt collector and his bodyguard's direction.

The crowd looked like a bunch of delinquents with bats and other weapons. They came toward the two and surrounded them so they were in a circle with the two in the middle. Tom looked around guessing that the delinquents were there to fight Shizuo as usual.

"Well I'm going to go ahead," Tom said to Shizuo. "You know where we're going so catch up with me when you finish." With that being said, Tom left through the circle easily since they were not there for the debt collector, but for the blonde.

Shizuo waited impatiently for the delinquents to do something, and if not, Shizuo would just be on his way. He already caused trouble to Tom by making him take the blonde to the park to cool his head even though they had somewhere to be. His bodyguard didn't want to trouble him any further by not being there to do his job.

Besides, Shizuo was tired of fighting. He fought since he was a kid. Always throwing stuff and getting himself hurt because of it. Although he didn't get hurt anymore, he still didn't like violence. When will he be able to stop fighting all the time and be able to just sit in the park like he just did and live a peaceful life? When? How long does he have to wait? Will the time for all that ever come?

That's when one of the delinquents finally made a move. He came at the ex-bartender with a bat behind him at an angle and you could tell he was going to swing it at Shizuo when he was close enough to hit him. That's how the fight started. The fight that brought forward the only fight he lost with so many wounds other than when he fought with the flea.

Shizuo really could understand what was going on. He could tell he was lying on the ground and he could see feet walking away from him. His vision was going in and out and he could feel the pain all over. He knew he was bleeding. He tried to bring his hands up so he could get off the ground and go to Shinra's, but only on hand came toward him. And even though it did, it was a struggle.

The blonde knew he didn't have enough strength to push himself up if he couldn't even bring his hands toward his upper body. Ironic, huh? The man who could throw vending machines and bring up signs from the ground couldn't even lift himself up from the ground? Laughable. So the blonde decided to close his eyes and wait for strength to come back to him.

Anyone who saw the bodyguard would think he was dead, but Izaya saw it all. And he knew Shizuo couldn't die.

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