A/N: Sorry for the long wait for the update. I did kind of leave you hanging with that last chapter. Please let me know what you think!

Chapter 4

Mikado sighed and turned to face Izaya again in his seat. Mikado narrowed his eyes in suspicion, attempting to portray seriousness to the elder. Izaya simply took a sip of his tea, seemingly ignoring the younger's serious gaze.

"Alright Izaya, what is this all about? You certainly caused quite a scene in there, so this better be worth making a show out of my friends and I."

Izaya finished his sip and simply chuckled at that, grading on Mikado's irritation further.

"I suppose I did make quite a spectacle of you three didn't I, hmm~? Well, that was definitely entertaining, even though it wasn't my intent."

Pfft, Yeah right.

"I mean, I really was just going to go right into having my chat with you. I couldn't help it that Kida-kun reacted that way. Although, it was certainly worth it seeing Kida-kun's hilarious stubborn hatred face." Izaya sighed. "I don't think I will ever tire of getting reactions out of people. He is just too easy at times."

"Izaya…"

"And then Anri comes in to join the party! I didn't even have to anything for her to spice things up. I mean, it is completely on her that she showed her Saika eyes to everyone. I can only imagine how the others in there are reacting to her now."

"Izaya…wha- "

"And the others at this club of yours are so full of character! I mean, did you see how the pres- "

"Izaya!" Mikado stood up from his seat, glaring at Izaya, and slammed the table with his fists causes the contents to vibrate shakily. He was already feeling like he was at his limit.

Izaya shows up out of the blue at a club he already felt very self-conscious being a part of then goes on to carelessly share information with the entire room that wasn't his to share!

Izaya looked momentarily shocked at Mikado's sudden outburst.

Mikado wondered in the back of his mind if the host club could hear his outburst from the other room, but he couldn't focus on that for the moment.

"Just tell me why you came here." Mikado demanded in a voice much quieter than he had used previously. He stated this with an almost eerie calmness. "You already said that you weren't just messing with us, so what business needs to be dealt with?"

If Izaya had been here just to mess with them, he most likely would have just made Masaomi or himself do something ridiculous to entertain him.

"I am not going to deal with your senseless chattering, so please just get to the point."

Izaya raised an eyebrow at this, but then shook off his expression of shock to smirking again.

"Very well then."Izaya began to nibble on some of the desserts on his plate.

Mikado sat back down at his seat, facing Izaya expectantly while trying to maintain his serious appearance. Izaya's eyes softened again as he sighed. He looked down slightly.

"I've been sent to give you a message."

"A message?"

Izaya nodded and looked up again.

"The gang war has gotten really bad in Ikebukuro."

"I know tha- "

"No, I don't think you do." Izaya started gravely. He sighed again. "You know that your school was shut down temporarily, but you don't understand how bad the war has actually gotten. Not really. Multiple schools and businesses have shut down."

The gang wars had gotten worse since Masaomi's confrontation with the traitorous yellow scarves members. Even though he left the gang, that didn't stop the war from happening.

"You can't walk anywhere anymore without seeing some sort of gang fight. It has become that dangerous. The number of gangs involved has increased as well. There's yellow scarves, the blue squares have returned, the dollars- "

"Wait a second, the yellow scarves? I thought they disbanded after- "

"A new leader took over after Horada was arrested."

Mikado gulped at seeing Izaya's intense gaze.

Izaya then pointed to his plate that was now empty. He cleared his throat, directed his gaze to Mikado's treats' tray, then back to his own plate. Mikado just stared at Izaya in bafflement before realizing what Izaya meant. He raised an eyebrow at the elder.

Seriously?

Izaya scoffed in irritation and then tapped his fingers on the table expectantly. Mikado sighed and then walked over to Izaya again with his dessert tray. He asked Izaya what he wanted who pointed, and then Mikado placed the chosen pastries onto Izaya's plate.

He had to ask for treats right after dropping something like that on me? You've got to be kidding me. He can get his own treats himself. He's just taking advantage of the fact that as a host I have to serve him. Great. This was probably very entertaining to him. No wonder he came while the club was in session. Did he plan that?

How could he be so nonchalant about the topic we're discussing? Oh, that's right, he's Izaya Orihara, that's how. Mikado groaned when he heard Izaya chuckle at Mikado's reluctant service.

Mikado sat back down at his seat.

"Who?"

"I don't think his name would mean anything to you anyways since you've been out of the loop for a while now."

Mikado felt a slight pang of guilt after hearing that.

"Anyways, I'm not exactly at liberty to give you the name. That's not why I'm here. Eh hmm"

Izaya playfully dangled his cup in the air indicating that he required it to be filled with more tea.

Mikado scoffed annoyingly and rolled his eyes. He stood up and went over to pour some more tea into his teacup. Sensing his smirk, Mikado thought Izaya was enjoying this way too much. Especially for someone who had brought up such a serious conversation topic.

"This new leader has been bringing other gangs into the war since apparently, he wants to control all the gangs existing in the area. He seems to think he'll get great power from doing that. The Dollars members are being found out and targeted."

Mikado put the teapot back down on the table after filling up the cup, although his hands shook a little after hearing Izaya mention what had been happening with the dollars. After seeing that Izaya didn't need anything else, he sat back at his seat again, but not before cleaning up the few drops of tea he had accidentally spilled.

"Wh-what do you mean Dollars members are being found and targeted? H-how are the other gangs finding out that they're Dollars' members?"

Izaya shrugged aloofly.

"Not sure. There's most likely many ways they are being found out. Some members weren't exactly quiet about being Dollars before the war started. Also, it's not that hard to track an ip address. There's simply many ways they could be found out."

Mikado nodded stiffly.

"I…I see."

"Since the Dollars are such a big and influential gang, it makes sense that they would be targeted in this gang power war. Some members are even active in the fighting themselves. I'm sure those are the ones you are not thrilled about."

Mikado sighed and looked away from his gaze.

"Most of the Dollars' members however don't want this fight. That's why I'm here."

Mikado's eyes widened.

"A client of mine who is an influential part of the dollars paid me to tell you about all of this. They wanted the leader of the dollars to know that the dollars' members re scared and that they need a leader to help them. It's no secret that the dollars' leader hasn't been around in a while. They need your help."

Mikado looked away guiltily. He hadn't realized how bad things had gotten. He didn't even know that dollars members were being targeted! Originally, he had been dragged into this club by his best friend, but he had grown to like it. It was a different kind of exciting than he had originally sought for, but still thrilling. He never knew what to expect with the host club members. And this new situation with Anri…he anticipated that it actually might go somewhere. That was a new situation he looked forward to despite how scary it was.

Before, Mikado had never even considered the idea that a situation that wasn't life threatening still might be thrilling enough for his own satisfaction. Plus, it was a bit of a relief to get the excitement he longed for without his life becoming endangered in the process. Part of him didn't want to leave this type of new life he had become accustomed to.

But at the same time, the consequences of one of his previous excitement-seeking creations were coming back to him. He couldn't abandon the Dollars. Especially if they really needed him. But how could he help though? He didn't know what to do.

"I-Izaya? Why are you doing this?"

"What do you mean? I already told you that a client paid me to say this."

"Y-yeah, but your job is gathering and selling information, not sending a message."

Izaya sighed.

"Well, for one thing, my client knows that I know the identity of the leader of the dollars."

Mikado gave him a deadpan look.

"You're an information broker. That's not very surprising."

Izaya laughed at that, but it didn't sound as genuine as it normally does.

"Very true, Mikado. You are just too much at times."

Mikado's look didn't waver.

"Alright, look, this gang war wasn't a part of my plans, alright?"

"Pfft."

"Hey, maybe I wanted a gang war, but not this. At least, not like this." Izaya got out his flick blade and started playing with it, not looking Mikado in the eyes. His smirk slipped, but he still didn't reveal his true emotions. His mouth was in a straight, difficult to read.

"I like situation where I can control all of the pieces. This…got out of my hands. People are being dragged into this who I did not intend to be pawns. I don't like it when people are affected who I did not plan to be. Not to mention, my reason for starting the first gang war didn't even succeed the way I hoped, so it all seems pretty pointless now."

Mikado didn't entirely understand what Izaya meant by that last statement.

"Yes, I like placing people in situation to get reactions. I have never hidden that fact. However, this whole war is completely pointless. The city is gradually shutting down to the violence, and that's no fun. Who wants to watch people hide in their house all day? And as for the ones who are out and about, I would really rather not watch the same idiotic gang fights using the same repetitive and uninteresting fighting strategies over and over again. So, I am not happy with this war at all."

Even though this sounded like an Izaya response, Mikado couldn't help but feel like there was something else as well.

Izaya stopped fidgeting with his flick blade and set it down on the table, twining his own fingers to rest over it.

"I don't like there to be senseless killing throughout the city. Even though I admit that I'm not the kindest person, I'm not a sociopath. I actually do have a conscious, believe it or not, and I actually do feel something about people dying. Especially with the way they could be due to the gang fights. I might have initially started this, but it grew into something that was not mine. I felt it was the least I could do to deliver this message to you. This war has to stop."

Mikado was not sure he correctly heard what Izaya had just said. He took a moment to process all of this. Thankfully, Izaya didn't interrupt his thoughts.

"I-Izaya…san? W-what do you think I should do?"

Izaya slipped his knife back into his coat and looked at Mikado.

"Well, I'm not certain, Mikado-kun. You are the leader of the dollars after all. I have a few ideas on possibilities to stop the war, but it's up to you. There's a reason I left the dollars to you and didn't take it over from you."

Wait a second…

"You're a smart boy. You can surely think of something to deal with this mess. That's why I waited to do anything before giving you this message. I had a feeling you might be able to come up with something." Izaya's smirk came back as though it had never left.

"So, Mikado-kun? What do you say? Are you willing to lead the Dollars to handle this wat? They're your gang after all. Surely you have an idea on how to lead them. That could be clearly seen when you took down Yagiri Pharmaceuticals. You do have options after all though. You could do nothing and continue playing in this silly host club entertaining girls who probably don't even deserve it. There you can charm your troubles away, and probably get together with that parasite Anri who you so obviously are crushing on hard. Yes, that option would definitely seem like the easier and more desirable one.

However, by doing so, you would be abandoning the gang which you had created. They would most likely be defeated by the other gangs and cease to exist. Who knows how many of them would die because of your disappearance? One gang, not the dollars, would finally take over the others but by doing so, nearly destroying the city. Not to mention, anarchy would most likely break out. "

Was Izaya Orihara trying to guilt him into saying yes?

"Or, you could leave behind the comfortable host club and abandon your position as a host, and come to the aid of your desperate lower gang members. You would come up with a probably very intelligent solution to solve the whole gang mess. Either it works or it doesn't. If it works, the war is over and you get everything you want. If it doesn't, more people die including possibly yourself."

Why was he telling me all of this?

"Although, I suppose if you wanted, I could take over the Dollars for you. Temporarily or permanently, you would decide. However, I get the feeling you would not like that idea very much."

Somehow, Mikado felt like Izaya didn't care one way or another about being leader.

"Just because I'm opposed to the idea of many in a city dying senselessly, doesn't mean I'm all of the sudden a person with good moral now. A 'kind-hearted' kid as yourself would not want someone like me in their place as a gang leader. You could leave someone else in charge of the Dollars, but somehow, I feel like you're too possessive to do something like that.

So, like I've said, there are options. Of course, you don't have to make a decision right now. But the clock is ticking as more fights break out. What do you say?"

Mikado pondered all that Izaya said. He began to thoroughly think over which decision would be best. Clearly excitement would exist on either side, but in different ways. Mikado had to take responsibility for the group he had created. It was only right. But, he had never been prepared for a situation like this. He didn't want to let anyone down. What should he do?

A/N: Does anyone have any predictions on where this story will go? Let me know in a pm or review.