Seven Ghosts
Part Two
Chapter Ten
Fourteen Ghosts
A/N: WOOOOW. Thanks for all the reviews folks, i love you all! Sorry for the delay in updating, I actually spent a week in a psyche ward! (which has produce the beginnings of another story! yay!) BTW...Welcome to rated M, cats! Thanks again for the love so far!
{[Heiwajima Shizuo]}
"Wow."
I walk in on Izaya at his desk today, looking … strangely moved and happy. "What?" I ask, slipping off of my shoes and approaching to see what he is looking at on his screen. His Twitter account was pulled up and I raised my eyebrows. "Wow indeed..."
Overly_Ordinary Nakura I love humans because there is good in everyone, whether they realize it or not #peoplelove
Skies_of_Peruvian Nakura I love humans because they give me something to write about #peoplelove
Fushoji4Life Nakura I love humans because they make YOAI! #peoplelove
Otakusan Nakura I love humans for the anime #peoplelove
MONTA Nakura I love humans because … I guess I just do #peoplelove
RuriLove Nakura I love humans because I love Hijiribe Ruri #peoplelove
HanejimaFangurl Nakura I love humans because Hanejima Yuuhei is my hero! #peoplelove
Magenta Nakura I love humans because the world isn't as terrible as I thought #peoplelove
xxStormCrowxx Nakura I love humans because they are awesome #peoplelove
Fury_Paragon Nakura I love humans because we can evolve #peoplelove
FLCL119 Nakura I love humans for the money haha #peoplelove
Mean_Bob_the_Asscat Nakura I love humans because I'm smarter than them lol #peoplelove
FairestSOLDIER Nakura I love humans for the RPGs :D #peoplelove
NINchapter_Titles Nakura I love humans because they make music #peoplelove
Turtle_Domo Nakura I love humans because they are always trying to improve themselves #peopellove
Human_Sushi Nakura R rho6oBb 4eroBe4ecKNNArR apTNKrb yAo6HbiN #peoplelove
Baculaman Sure I love humans, but Nakura can go die haha VERY FUNNY KANRA #peoplelove
sinnamin Nakura I love humans because they can love so deeply #peoplelove
Saika Nakura I love humans. Period. #peoplelove
Setton_Sama Nakura I love humans because they are so interesting #peoplelove
Dullahan_Love Nakura I love humans for the bodily healing factor. So fascinating! #peoplelove
…
124 new tweets
"It's trending," Izaya says quietly, pointing to the right of the screen. Sure enough, under "Trending Now" #peoplelove was listed third.
I can't help but to grin. "Well there you have it. Two Ghosts down, five to go."
"Well, no doubt some acquaintances have put it together. Some of them think it's a joke, others may be worried," Izaya tells me, turning away from the screen to look at me. "But I don't care what they think, I never have. Thank you."
"What did I do?" I ask. "I just made a suggestion."
"And that suggestion made this a reality. So take my gratitude you protozoan."
We exchange a strange sort of smile and I ruffle his hair, which he laughs at. "Well your welcome then."
"Has it occurred to you that this is very strange?"
"What is?"
"How you're helping me."
"Only every second of every day," I mutter, pulling out my phone and shooting off a text. I'd almost forgotten to add my own tweet, though I rarely use it. "So I called in a favor from Kasuka. He said some kind of … Paritta blessing is in order."
"What did you tell him?" Izaya's voice is a little tense. He says he doesn't care about what others think, but I know this is not true. He didn't want my brother to know, and I definitely didn't want Kasuka to know exactly who I was helping.
"I just told him a friend of mine is going through an ordeal, and that's what he recommended. Anyway, he gave me directions to a local shrine here in Tokyo, and said to be there by dawn tomorrow. Up for it?"
"Yeah," he replied, refreshing the page one more time and looking at all the tweets in amazement. He looked at me and smiled suspiciously, but said nothing.
Heiwaranbou Nakura I love humans because you're one of them.
The shrine was uneventful. I'll say it was the easiest thing to do off of Izaya's entire list. He wouldn't let me go in with him, and I don't blame him. It's supposed to be this personal divine experience, though his motives were far from spiritual.
"What's with the beads?" I ask as he pulls on his parka and we leave.
"Prayer beads, for chanting mantras and to aid in mudras," he replies with a shrug, putting the wooden beads on a red string in his pocket. "I found them … endearing."
"What, are you a Buddhist now?"
"Oh, hell no!" he laughs. "This is more a memento of the experience, not a token of my conversion!"
"Doesn't it not work if you're not Buddhist?"
"Do prayers work if you're not Christian?"
I shrug, stepping out of the serene atmosphere of the shrine and into the busy streets of Chiba. "Can I see that flash drive of yours? The one with your novel on it?"
"Ne~? Why?"
"I got an email back from a publishing agent," I said quietly, for some reason feeling that awful blush tinge my face. Why was this embarrassing? Oh, right, I'm helping out my worst enemy unprompted. "She said she wants to have a look at what you have."
Izaya blinked, as if he couldn't believe it. "You … you're really helping me, aren't you?"
"Well yeah, what did you think I was doing, sitting back and watching you die?"
"Sort of..." he admitted. "You're … just pretending."
"Are you sure?"
We stop and look at each other for a moment, right by the bus stop. His eyes draw me in, only because there is an intense emotion brewing. Some cross of curiosity, wonder and self-doubt flash in those dark eyes with that red hue when the light hit them just right. He's looking up at me with that flushed look of kicking oneself for not seeing what could have been obvious. It was his turn to blush slightly, and because I'd never seen it before, it was suddenly very hard to keep my desire under control in public. His cheeks sort of lightened to a subtle pink, almost unnoticeable, but I see it. And fuck, it turns me on for some reason.
I'm not even sure I was more than just bi-curious and he did this to me. Aggravating. Exhilarating. Exasperating. You've got to be KIDDING me, you know? He was quite obviously in lust with me, maybe even some twisted form of love was in the picture, but how could I reciprocate? And why did it suddenly seem so easy?
Our lips are centimeters away and I was just leaning forward to brush them together when the bus pulls up. We sort of awkwardly remove ourselves from that melded instant of togetherness and board, in our own heads full of inquiry and confusion.
It's quiet on the way back to Shinjuku. We are too weirded out by each other to try and converse, but it's not too terribly an awkward silence. As if the lack of words between us was okay, like a mutual understanding. I couldn't help but to think of that first night I found him amidst his death sentence and the physical contact that had caught fire then. I would have pounded him right then and there if I thought he could have handled it, but now that I'd seen his Ghosts list, I'm glad I didn't.
I could pretend for him on a few of those things. Though I was wondering more and more if the motions I was going through might have had a bit more depth than I'd like to admit.
Then of course there was the issue of his next Ghost or two...
When we get back to his loft I make a bit of lunch, to which Izaya declines and dines on a sickening amount of pills instead. "I know what you're thinking," he says from the bathroom.
"Yeah?"
"Wondering when I'll try to seduce you for my next Ghost."
"...Yeah...?"
"Um... forget it. It was wrong of me to try and guilt you into that." I hear the rattle of several prescription bottles and the medicine cabinet closing. He emerges and puts a hand to his head. "I'm going to lay down for a bit. You can stay if you want, I'm just not going to be very good company."
"I don't mind," I tell him, picking at my lunch awkwardly with plastic chopsticks. "Get some rest."
He disappeared into his room and I was left alone in his lounge for a bit. I didn't want to break the calm quiet of the loft, so I didn't turn on the TV or make a real sound if I could help it. I was restless however, and took to pacing about, lost in my own little world of thought.
Izaya would not have put his desire to have me sexually on his Ghosts lists if he didn't really want it, or at least put it so high up on the list. He claimed to have put it there to guilt me into it, but I was starting to be able to tell when he was lying, especially about how he felt. Otherwise a hummingbird couldn't catch him at work.
I won't deny that I've been bi-curious for a while, but I've never found the right type of guy to experiment with. I don't know if that made me picky or just strait with an itch, but Izaya seemed just the sort of person I would actually want to try things like that with. Maybe it was because I hated him for so long that it just seemed right, like if I didn't like it I could always fall back on that excuse.
I could pretend it didn't matter.
Ironic, that I was supposed to pretend that I loved him, when I was actually pretending the opposite.
How frustrating, that I was really starting to like the guy. I still wanted to throw something large and heavy at his head, but I didn't want to kill him anymore... I wanted to play his game of cat and mouse with a flirtatious zeal. It wasn't fair.
I find myself in front of Izaya's bedroom door, cracked a bit. I can see him lying there in the dark, rubbing his temples and taking another painkiller, clearly on the verge of a migraine. His braced arm lay limp beside him and I hear him sigh. "Come in," he calls to me, aware of my presence. "I can't sleep anyway."
I walk in and sit on the edge of the bed as he shifts to sit up. "Didn't mean to disturb you."
"It's okay. Something on your mind, Shizu-chan?"
"I guess there is."
"It's that thing on my Ghosts list, isn't it?" I clear my throat uncomfortably and kind of nod. Izaya sort of smiles. "I said don't worry about it. It was kind of asinine of me t o ask you to pretend something like that."
"It wasn't wrong or asinine, it was desperate," I correct. "I'm starting to be able to read you pretty well, Izaya. To want love for once in your life isn't wrong. It's … admirable, actually."
He laughs quietly. "Nothing I've ever done in my life could be called 'admirable.' I'm twisted, Shizuo. I know that. I may mess with people's lives to better them in a sense, but I'm still turning their lives upsidown. I am Key Sixteen: The Tower. Sudden, dynamic change, but a new perspective as a result. I want people to see the world as it is – I want to turn them from a simple lump of coal into a shining diamond, one at a time. And you gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelet. I wasn't kidding when I said that I oversee all the hurt in Tokyo. I play god, but sometimes I wonder if the ends justify the means..."
I often wondered that myself, but I wasn't about to deny nor affirm his insanity. Instead I take his broken arm and inspect it in its black casing gently, wondering if he would live to see use of this hand again. Without thinking, I kiss his fingers as if I could take away the break or the hurt, and not just in his arm. A shiver runs up his arm and his eyelids lower in a sort of lust over those intense eyes of his.
He pulls his arm back. "I don't want it if it's fake."
"Did I ever say that it was?"
Izaya looks at me, confused and a little in awe. "Stop it, Shizu-chan. I told you, you don't have to pretend anymore."
"Quit it, I don't want to have to say it until I absolutely have to," I tell him, then I lean in and kiss him like I'd been dying to do since we left Chiba.
He melts into me, returning the kiss and wrapping his arms around me, his right hand awkwardly strait out over my shoulder and his legs shifting to make room for me on the bed. The touch of his fingers ghosting over my neck and through my hair is making me hard. The heat is building up slowly inside of me, and I know it's going to roll out of control if I don't catch it, and the experience will be over too soon.
Izaya is trying to undo my shirt with one hand and muttering curses under his breath. I chuckle and do it for him, giving him access to my chest, which he ravages with touches, kisses and bites while his breath hitches in the lust that is building between us both, making this foreplay almost unbearable but elating none the less. He fully intends to finish what we started a few nights ago, drinking his fill this time and rekindling that fiery want inside of me.
I gently remove his shirt, gingerly pulling it over the brace and tracing his pale, thin skin with my fingertips, trying not to let the concern for his bony figure show. I'm afraid I'll break him, so I am gentle. He squirms beneath my touch, sensitive and clearly relishing the moment. Considering I only half know what I'm doing, I was impressed by his wide range of reaction to just a touch. I kiss his nipples and find them already alive. He arches his back and moans, an erogenous zone in my captivity.
Izaya grabs a fistful of pants. "Off," he orders, then proceeds to attempt to undress himself with little success; I've been the one helping him with this day-to-day chore and it will be a bit before his left hand is deft enough to do it for himself. I comply, easing his clothing off first, then rising and slowly removing my own. I feel his eyes sweeping over me, and I wonder what he is thinking. I've never been self-conscious, but never been overly confident about my body image either.
"Wow..." he breathes, then takes his upright cock in his left hand and strokes a bit, unashamed by his wild desire for me. I hesitate, then lean in, taking his erection in my hand instead and inducing pleasure upon him my own way. He moans and twists, thrusting his hips so that hot piece of flesh is grinding against my hand to his liking. Watching him react like this is torture for me – he does notice that I'm just as hard as he is, right?
"Fingers," he huffs, taking my other hand and instructing them to his entrance.
"Ah..." I try to say, gently pushing them in. I'm not sure...
"Like you're fingering a girl," he instructs, picking up on my thought. That I could do. I pushed two inside of him and he groans again, so with my other hand I pump his dick in a maddening rhythm. "Deeper..." he pleads, so I oblige, shoving them in hard and deep. "OH!" he cries, and I hesitate, but then I realize that his cry was not of pain, but of pleasure, so I do it again, raking the inside of him with hooked fingers and he shouts again, louder. "Do it again!" he cries out, digging the nails of his good hand into my shoulder, which only encourages. I do it again. And again.
It's incredible to watch Izaya react in such an uncomposed manner. He breaks out in a sweat and if I don't stop, he could come too soon, so I withdraw my fingers. He makes a sound of disapproval, but I am over top of him. The mechanics shouldn't be too hard to figure out, and fuck, I want him so badly. I want to be inside of him, mark him, make him mine. "Lubricate," he whispers, fumbling to the side of the bed and handing me a bottle of lotion. It hadn't occurred to me, but he was right, so I slather some on and I loom over him, getting ready to penetrate. Izaya's eyes cloud over in lust and he nods in eager permission, so I enter slowly at first, slipping inside of his tight hole for the first time and nearly losing myself in a heady rush.
I secure myself and he clenches, a sound of unexpected ecstasy escaping me when he does. There are no words, only huffs and hisses of delight when I pull back and plunge back into him. He throws his legs over my shoulders and I push even deeper, watching his body tense up and shudder, the feeling forcing its way out his mouth in a swear.
The pleasure on my end is paradise. The way his legs are make the clenching so much more intense, and I can feel it over my cock and into my belly, tingling up and down to my arms and legs while I pick up the pace, eager for friction and the feeling of him around me. I can't get enough of him, I want to die inside of him it's so good. While we increase the speed of the motions to induce a climax I feel like I am dying in the best way possible.
I pound into him, frailty set aside, and Izaya seems grateful for it. His moans and mine combine while I pump his cock in my hand and pump mine within him, faster, harder, deeper. His mouth catches mine and when his good hand reaches around to pull my hair I lose it. I practically shout into his mouth and come, jerking him in a pattern that will result in the inevitable: Izaya comes a few moments later all over my hand and chest as he breaks the kiss and just about howls in orgasm.
I sit back and wipe the sweat from my forehead, using a tissue to clean his tangible pleasure all over me. Izaya tries to sit up, but lays back down, apparently dizzy.
"That... was the best fuck ever," he manages.
"Are you alright?" I ask, suddenly worried that I had overtaxed him.
"Better than I've been since this whole thing started..." he sighs, untangling his legs from me. I wrap my arms around him and lay there, running my thumb lazily over his arm. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Not pretending."
And then he is asleep.
A/N: Fourteen is three, five and six all added together.