Chapter 15 everyone! Again, a flashback. Hope you like it!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara.

CHAPTER 15

"Damn that flea," muttered Shizuo under his breath as he resisted the urge to cause property damage. "I get a rare holiday and he decides to show up early in the morning. Damn it damn it damn it!"

He was storming down the pavement, and all the residents of Ikebukuro knew better than to stand in the way of an angry Shizuo Heiwajima. The pavement cleared out subsequently.

Shizuo kept going on aimlessly with his hands in his pockets for a while before he realised that he had lost the paper with Sophie's address. "Damn it!" he cursed himself. But then paused.

Why was he so hung up on that child? Why did it matter if he had her address or not? It wasn't like he would've gone to meet her, even if he had her address. He felt the same headache come on as the day before, and stopped walking abruptly. Going on like this was of no use. He leaned against a vending machine, pushed his purple shades up, and pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to quell the throbbing.

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"Oh, come on Shizuo. It's the school fair! We should go for it." said Natasha, as she lay across from Shizuo on his bed. The latter's parents were out at work, and Kasuka had school. It was time for the Annual Raira Spring Fest, where the students of Raira Academy put up various stalls and events to promote the school, and encourage young students and their talents. A fun-filled affair. A place where lots of people gather. A place not meant for the infamous temper of Shizuo Heiwajima.

He turned his head to his right, and saw Natasha half sit on the bed, with her hands cupping her cheeks. As though she read his thoughts, her eyebrows furrowed and she let out a long sigh.

"Shizuo, I'm serious. I've never been to a Fest. Especially one as big as this. I really want to see it. Plus," she added, "There is a drama that we in the drama club are doing. I really want you to come and see it." Shizuo closed his eyes and he was about to tell her how it was a bad idea, and if she wanted to go, she should go with Shinra or Kadota, when she mentioned her own involvement in the fest. She was acting? Then he wanted to come and cheer her on. But then knowing the flea, the bastard would definitely do something to piss him off, and Shizuo realised that for Natasha's own sake, he should not go. No matter how much he wanted to.

He began – "Natasha, I don't think I should come-"

"And I'm going with no one else but you." She said with an air of finality, and lay down again, her face turned away from him.

"Natasha-" said Shizuo, desperately wanting her to see his reason.

"Don't talk to me unless you've changed your mind about this."

Shizuo nudged her elbow for a while, and finally she gave in and turned to his side.

"Why don't you want to come? And don't bother with the whole 'I shouldn't be around so many people because I'll only end up hurting them.'"

Shizuo's veins pricked and, baring his teeth, he gripped her elbow with his hand and said, "You know what? You don't understand. You just don't. I hate violence, but when I see annoying people I can't stop myself. If I go to that Fair, and see the damn flea, who'll definitely do something to piss me off, what will you do then? Huh? There'll be so many people around, damn it! And what if some gang member shows up? Huh? And I go all out? What the hell will you do THEN?" he yelled out the last part while gripping her elbow, and in his blind rage, didn't notice Natasha's face scrunching up in pain.

Natasha noticed his rage induced fit, and with tremendous effort, released his grip on her arm. She could do it very slightly, he was a lot stronger than her physically. When she felt the pressure decrease slightly, she lifted her left palm and brought it to his cheek.

"Shizuo, Shizuo that's enough. Please, it's hurting me." She said, wincing in pain as she stroked his cheek as tenderly as she could. It worked, Shizuo's anger gradually subsided. His previously enraged expression was replaced with relief, at the anger going away. The relief soon turned into shock, and then pain on seeing his grip on her elbow. He immediately withdrew his hand. He stared at his hands, eyes widened with horror.

It had been a month since they were dating, and a month was a long time in Shizuo's books not to get violent at someone. He had conceded to let his guard down around her, to allow himself physical contact with her. As luck would have it, it hadn't worked out.

Natasha sat up, tears pricked in her eyes. The tears were because of the pain, but more so because of the fact that Shizuo had actually hurt her. She had thought all that while she would be immune to Shizuo's violent rampages. She had thought wrong.

She picked up her bag with her good hand and levitated the door open. She walked out, and slammed the door behind her. Shizuo was shaken from his reverie due to the noise, and ran after her. He caught up to her near the door.

"Natasha." He said, voice breaking.

"Stand away from me, Shizuo. Please." Came the reply, surprisingly steady.

"I'm so sorry Natasha. I didn't mean to, I swear." His voice broke. He went in front of her and blocked the door, silently pleading for her to stay, his eyes had a film of water over them, but he averted them out of shame.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME, SHIZUO!" she yelled back, and Shizuo, along with the flowerpots, the shoe rack, the curtains and other miscellaneous items were thrown back into the living room. And then she left, without looking back.

###

Very few incidents caused Shizuo as much misery as this one. He took off his shades from his forehead and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. He slipped in a coin into the vending machine and picked up the soft drink from below. He then walked off in the direction of the bridge where he knew he'd find Celty if she wasn't out on a job during the day. Granted he had just met them a couple of hours ago, but now he really needed to talk to someone. Celty seemed like the ideal person – there were very few people who believed that monsters like him deserved human attributes like feelings.

###

The sakura petals filled the air and covered the ground – it was spring, and the Annual Raira Spring Fest could not have chosen a better day to kick off. The sheer number of people was immense, and there seemed to be stalls at every few feet. Natasha smiled to herself – it was heartening to be among so many people in a festive atmosphere. Even if she hadn't organized a stall or actively taken part, she was in the English drama, which was going to take place in the evening. She had busied herself in the set arrangement throughout morning, even when there was nothing much to do, as she had already completed most of the final touches earlier in the week in anticipation of attending the fest with Shizuo. But that hadn't worked out so well, judging the events of the previous day…..

She had tried to find work to do in the drama department itself to get her mind off things, but when Shinra came by to talk and it slipped out that she had never seen a school fest, she was immediately dragged out by the over-enthusiastic future doctor, who was determined to introduce to her every single aspect of the fest.

"Ordinarily Orihara-kun would've done a better job at this, seeing as he is the Class Representative, but since he's busy, I thought I'd do the job." Natasha's mouth twisted in a grimace, but she tried to hide it from Shinra. There was a good chance that Izaya had asked him to do it, but Natasha chose not to comment on it. While exhausting, Shinra was actually a good person, and she liked spending time with him. She agreed to walk around with him.

From the around the corner, Shizuo smiled in relief. He felt immensely guilty about what had happened the day before, and was glad he could count on Shinra for being there for Natasha when he couldn't. Kasuka had coerced him into going for the fest, promising to be near him at all times to calm him down if things got intense. Shizuo motioned to Kasuka to follow them from a distance. He wasn't sure if Natasha wanted to see him just yet, but at he would definitely show himself to her for her drama.

Kasuka, being the intuitive boy he was, understood that there had been some disagreement between the two, but also knew that it would eventually get sorted out. After all, no one understood them better than the other. He followed Shizuo as the maintained a distance behind the two.

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Shizuo had just finished his soft drink and was leaning over the bridge railing, lighting up a cigarette when he heard the familiar neighing of a horse, followed by the screeching of tyres brought to a halt. He turned around to see Celty getting off her faithful steed Shooter and walk over towards him. She took her place next to him and leaned against the railing, taking in the light breeze.

After a while, she realised Shizuo had opened and closed his mouth multiple times. She realised he had something to say, but wasn't quite sure how to put it across. She decided to make the first move.

Is everything all right?

Shizuo stared at her PDA for quite some time, the smoke from his cigarette forming a small cloud in front of him. Then he pulled it out and crushed it beneath his shoe.

"No, Celty. It isn't."

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Chapter 16 should be updated in a while, I'm already 25% done with this.

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