chapter one - lost to the waves
Summer 2002
"Iza-nii!"
"Brother, please open the door."
Ever since summer had arrived, Mairu and Kururi tried desperately to get their brother to spend time with them, insisting that, with school out, he had nothing better to do but play with them. Izaya didn't speak to them much, however. The twins weren't going to give up that easily, and he knew that. Yet he didn't give in.
Their begging got worse when their parents left for a business trip, almost driving the raven-haired teen out of his mind. Though only six years old, his sisters understood early on that it took a lot to sway their brother.
However, on this particular day, Izaya opened his door, startling the twins, Mairu even tumbling to the ground in shock. Any other time when he opened his door, it was normally to scowl at them and say, "Why can't you two simply play together?" though today, he had a lighter tone, and his scowl was not present.
"What is it?"
After Kururi helped her up, Mairu spoke, "We want to go to the beach."
Izaya blinked, not expecting this sudden change, though a small smirk found its way to his face. "The beach, ne?"
Kururi nodded. "Can you take us?"
"Please?"
Izaya knew he shouldn't have been surprised by their statement - after all, their parents never took them on trips with them. All the twins knew were home, school, and a few parts of town. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad for a change of scenery, even though the beach was a good two hours away.
"You promise you'll behave?"
"Yes!" The twins squeaked in unison, beaming at his question.
"Now then," Izaya said, the twins' complete attention on him. "We'll need to pick up a couple of things before we can head out, and I'm going to warn you now that the train ride there is long."
"We don't care, Iza-nii!" Mairu exclaimed. "Please, take us to the beach!"
"You two are really desperate, aren't you?" Izaya asked, smirk still present.
Kururi nodded. "You never spend time with us."
"And we never go anywhere!"
"At least you have reasoning," came Izaya's reply as he stepped back into his room, returning with his wallet now attached to his belt loop. "Let's go, then."
The twins nodded, following their brother out of their apartment, holding hands as they trailed behind him.
That was another thing the twins disliked. Izaya never held their hands when taking them places, and never looked back when talking to them. It was almost as if they weren't there. Neither of the girls dared to speak up, however. The last thing they wanted was their brother mad.
The train ride was quiet, mostly, with Mairu pointing out different things to Kururi as they gazed out the window, Izaya simply sitting there and gazing around at the other passengers.
"Iza-nii, why are you always looking at other people?" Mairu asked, blinking up at her brother, who was a bit surprised by the question.
"Because humans are fun to observe," Izaya replied, Kururi blinking at him now.
"Observe…" The oldest twin echoed, earning a nod from her brother.
"You know, it's in my name to watch over other people."
"It is?" Mairu asked, exchanging glances with her sister. "I wonder what our names mean…"
"Sadly for you, Mairu means to be very tired or beaten."
Mairu's eyes widened. "It does not! You're just kidding Iza-nii!" The youngest twin protested, Kururi holding her hand to attempt to calm her down. "I'm never tired!"
"What about my name, Iza-nii?" Kururi asked softly.
"Kururi means to whirl or turn, and be complete," Izaya started, Kururi simply nodding at him. "But it also means beautiful."
Kururi felt a bit flustered, echoing her brother's words, "Beautiful…"
It was probably the closest to a compliment from her Iza-nii that she would get - indirect or not.
"At least you get a cool name, Kuru-nee," Mairu said lightly, a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"In a way, you share my name," Kururi replied, shocking her sister. "I'm not complete without you."
Izaya rolled his eyes at the two, wondering how he ended with such sappy sisters, even though it was only the beginning.
Eventually they reached the beach, the twins practically dragging Izaya out of the train towards the ocean, grinning ear to ear.
Once they reached a good spot, Izaya pried from his sisters' grip, setting the bag he had gotten down, laying a towel out, and as he lied down, he looked up to see the twins frowning at him.
"Iza-nii…" Kururi started.
"We brought you here to play with us, remember?"
"I have other things to do," Izaya replied, reaching into the bag, though paused as his sisters didn't budge.
"Like what?" Mairu pressed on.
"Research."
"You're not even in school!"
"Do you just not like us, Iza-nii?"
Izaya was shocked by Kururi's question, sitting up and giving them a faint, reassuring smile. "Of course I like you, I just…"
"Then play with us!" Mairu exclaimed, grasping his arm again, Izaya letting out a small noise of protest as the girls dragged him towards the water.
"So, what exactly do you two want to do, then?"
"Volleyball would be nice," Kururi said gently, Mairu nodding in agreement as she turned to make her way back towards Izaya's bag.
"Now, Iza-nii, you better keep your promise," The younger twin called, grabbing a beach ball from the bag and tossing it to Kururi.
Izaya sighed. "Why, will you drown me otherwise?"
Kururi shook her head, though Mairu was smug for a moment, not replying.
Izaya raised an eyebrow at her in return. "Mairu?"
"I'm just kidding," she spoke, looking over towards her sister.
"Don't we need a net?" Kururi asked, hugging the ball and gazing up at Izaya.
"Iza-nii can be the net!"
Izaya blinked, staring at his sister in question. She's crazy. He was about to speak, but Mairu continued before he got the chance. "Just lay down in the sand and we can play that way. When one of us loses, we can be the net."
Izaya let out another sigh, lying down as Mairu told him to, closing his eyes and listening to his sisters carry on for a while. It was a little nice, considering they weren't making him do anything just yet, but that changed a couple of minutes later when he heard Kururi let out a small scream, eyes flashing open as he sat up, looking over to see that the older twin had tripped over a rock, diving face-first into the water after attempting to hit the ball back towards Mairu.
Mairu appeared too frightened to move, but Izaya scrambled to his feet to help Kururi up. She didn't open her eyes quite yet, coughing to get a bit of sea water out of her system and reaching for her cut leg.
"You cut it pretty bad, Kururi," Izaya said, turning towards Mairu and gesturing for her to get his bag. She nodded, tossing it to him and leaving him to search around for a bandage, wrapping it around her leg. "I think you may have twisted it, too. Here, trying moving it."
Kururi obeyed, and sure enough, it was a bit distorted. "I'll be okay, though, right Iza-nii?"
Izaya nodded. "It could've been worse."
Kururi nodded in reply as Izaya helped her stand up, eyes widening as Izaya gave her a small smile.
Izaya never smiled.
"Iza-nii.." Kururi started, though she was cut off by her brother. "How about we just draw a line in the sand, ne?"
Mairu nodded, grabbing a pebble from nearby and dragging it across the sand. "I don't want to see Kuru-nee be used as a net."
"So it's okay for me to be one?" Izaya asked, though Mairu didn't answer.
Kururi managed a small giggle, sitting down close to the edge of the line, watching her siblings go head-to-head in further amusement.
Thank you, Iza-nii.
Present
Kururi shivered at the nighttime breeze, gazing out over the city as she sat beside her sister on their fire escape. Her hand drifted towards her leg as a result of the memory, gazing at the faint scar that stilled remained.
"You're thinking about that day, too, huh?" Mairu asked abruptly, placing her hand over her sister's, interlocking their fingers.
Kururi simply nodded. "I was thinking...maybe we should've cremated Iza-nii."
"And spread his ashes in the ocean?"
Kururi nodded again, leaning against her twin and letting her eyes flutter shut as she whispered, "I think he might have liked that."
author's note~
The Izaya Net, now available at Walmart. /shot
It's finally here! I'm sorry it's not all that long - all of the chapters are bound to be pretty short, save for a select few, but I'm trying. And sorry it took this long. Dx I wanted to get it out on Thursday, but that plan failed. I feel like this could be a lot better, so I'll probably go back and edit it. Eventually. Or maybe add on as the fic goes on. Who knows~
I feel like it's bad that this kinda parallels Trial and Error. This is supposed to be its own, independent fic, but I really couldn't resist this. I'm hoping this will be the only incident - I just love this beach idea, even though I didn't write the whole entire thing. ;3;
Anyway, the next chapter will probably be a bit longer, and will start off with Shizuo~ With Izaya taking over T&E right now, he needs some attention. xD
I'd really appreciate your opinions on the fic so far, though I'm not going to force you all. xD I knew that this wasn't going to be popular, but it would help if you guys would let me know so I can keep writing for the few who want updates. I know I want updates. xD /shot
Anyway, I'll hopefully see you soon~