The arms that wrapped around him weren't the end of the surprise that hit him. Soon after his initial shock from the sudden physical contact, a sweet and eerily familiar voice that started to sing a song for, hypothetically, the sake of cheering him up served to shock him even more. He, however, to his own bewilderment, did not do anything that might stop the stranger from holding him or from singing.

"In a path that leads everywhere
there are lots of things, right?
Now you, a bragger, are making a tearful voice
I can hear through the phone handle

Chasing dreams,
you`ve gotten up to here
the things you came to forget
are inside me, baby

When you cry, it's ok because
I'm besides you
the nights we are separated; it's ok because
I'll also be by your side"

The lyrics unnervingly fit the situation and the voice of the singer brought nostalgic feelings to his heart that should have died ever since Shizuka disappeared. As the mysterious singer sang, the feelings of attachment and belonging made themselves present inside his usually numb heart. How a stranger was capable of forcing out such emotions from him was beyond his understanding. He was rendered speechless and immobile as the female's angelic voice ceased not to resonate with the secluded ether of desolation around the two of them.

"The sky we saw once
will it still be here?
I remember the dream we saw

Could it be that the non-stop rain
is washing the sky?
I know the things you
haven't yet surrender to, baby

When you cry, it's ok because
I'm besides you
the nights we are separated; it's ok because
I'll also be by your side

Because I'll be by your side"

The soft sounds that left her lips were the indication of the end to her song. Shortly after all of her vocals had come to a complete stop and her song faded into the night, and somehow seeped into Izaya's heart, the arms that embraced the informant slowly withdrew themselves from his now still, close to petrified, body.

There was obdurate muteness between them. Not one dared to speak out his or her thoughts. For the first time in his life, Orihara Izaya had no words to say.

When she finished singing, everything became clear to her. Her mind that previously only focused on giving comfort to the male in front of her had recently pounded sound reasoning into her. She inwardly cursed her inability to control her impulsive actions as her muscles tensed and her arms sluggishly removed themselves from their position.

There was silence between them. Of course there would be silence, how can there be not? Her face turned crimson, and she felt the heat of her inevitable blush reach the tip of her ears. Why had she done something like that? Why did she hug him? On top of that, why the heck did she sing a love song to him?

It was beyond all rationality.

How can she do those things to a man she had only seen a couple of minutes ago, let alone a man she had, most likely, never met before and didn't even now a single thing about of. She bowed lowly, her face almost down to her knees, multiple times in front of the male her incompetent self-control has made a victim of. "I-I'm s-sorry, i-it's just that you were crying and I felt I needed to do that!" She immediately put a hand over her mouth after her incoherent words left them.

What the hell was wrong with her?

She had absolutely no idea why she was acting like this. She had never felt or acted this way before. Her eyes turned from the stranger to her surroundings, her vision seemingly dodged the cause of her embarrassment.

Why, why was this happening to her?

Her unreasonable answer piqued and interested him at the same time. How could a woman just hug a man all of a sudden? He shook his head indignantly and looked up to finally get a good look at the oddity that was the girl in front of him.

What he saw, if he had anything to describe his reaction, dumbfounded him to catastrophic proportions. Honey-colored eyes, long, wavy blond hair, the same physique and flushed look.

It can't be.

But it was.

"S-Shizu-chan?" his voice came out as a raspy undertone. But it was audible to both of them so he couldn't give a damn to how loud he should have said it – hell; he was surprised he had the sense to murmur out her name because of his immeasurable shock. After all, she was here. Right in front of him, the real, live, breathing Heiwajima Shizuka.

She was back.

She was back

She was back.

She was finally back!

The thought of her returning circled in his mind and gave emphasis to different points of one statement as his gaze remained glued to the fidgeting and blatantly embarrassed female. Albeit she was not looking anywhere else besides his irises, her eyes were filled with confusion. The reason for such an emotion – he couldn't bring himself to give any heed to. His body thinking likewise, stood up and hugged the astonished woman.

He was hugging him. She was being hugged by someone she didn't know. Her thoughts frenzied inside her already confused head as doubts and worries swarmed inside it. Yet she couldn't find it in her power to push the male away. It was weird. Normally, her reaction would be pushing away the stranger and running for dear life, but now, to her complete and utter disbelief, she found herself returning the tight embrace of the stranger.

It was as if her body was reacting before her mind could even decide on what she should do. And, being as impulsive as she was, it was always instinct over rational thinking.

She could not feel danger or any ill intent from this man who apparently knew her. He did call her by her nickname did he not? Was he her fan who was overjoyed with seeing his idol? No. It didn't feel that way. His familiarity with her felt more… deeper than that of a fan. She couldn't explain it, but she felt such a great yet unidentifiable emotion for this man.

Even though it's irrational to be having such feelings over someone you just met, it would seem as if her body disagreed with her.

When her brain finally managed to take over her arbitrary body, she gently separated herself from the giant bear hug the stranger gave her which earned her a look of question from the latter. "Shizu-chan?"

His voice sounded hurt and it took everything she had to not just hug the man again to prevent him from letting out such a forlorn voice. She took a few steps backward from him and stared straight into those mesmerizing crimson eyes, and with the last of her remaining strength, she managed to conjure the inquiry that had been in her mind the minute he hugged her.

"Who are you?"

His eyes widened at her words. Who was he? Who was he? His ears weren't deceiving him right? She said those words right? She questioned him who he was. She questioned the man she had loved so much before who he was. She questioned the man who had hurt her so much – the man who practically engraved his existence into her soul with pain who he was. Then realization hit him.

He couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh as he glared at the still confused-looking female in front of him. "A-ahahaha! Shizu-chan, you're the best! Really the best! First you disappear for what, six years? And then return here to Ikebukuro and play you have amnesia! You must really have planned on getting back at me for what I did!" he choked out, he barely manage to say what he wanted as he struggled to wheeze them out in between maniacal laughter.

At what he said, her bewilderment reached its peak. "W-what are you saying? I - I don't understand…"

The tone of her voice made Izaya stop laughing. For the first time in the entirety of his awareness of her protozoic actuality, there was fear in her voice. She was genuinely afraid of him.

Why was she afraid of him? Why was she – the fortissimo of Ikebukuro – afraid of him, Orihara Izaya, the bane of her existence?

Where was the usual hate? Where was the screaming and the wailing and the flying vending machines?

"Shizu-chan, drop the act, I can see right through you!" he smugly retorted back at her earlier probe. She tilted her head, her brows knit together in slight frustration. "I-I'm sorry, but you may have the wrong person."

Wow, she really was keeping this up wasn't she? He smirked. He should play along shouldn't he? "Ah, then pray do tell who this Shizu-chan is?" His feigned resignation of forcing accusations on her made the latter smile a bit.

"My name is Hanejima Shizuru, pleasure to meet you."

She introduced herself to the male. She was somehow relieved that he figured out along the way she wasn't the Shizu-chan he referred to with such disdain. However, there was also a bit of disappointment in her that she wasn't the Shizu-chan the raven-haired man was looking for. He obviously cared a lot about her.

Wait, hold that thought. What in blazes was she thinking? She couldn't possibly think of such things? Why would she feel disappointed of mistaken identity?

Her name seemed to have shaken the other a bit. "Hanejima… Shizuru?"

Before she could reply, gruff voices were heard not too far behind them. "Hey, there's the chick with the nice rack!"

"Woohoo, where?"

"Haha, we're going to have us some great time!"

"Who's the dude with her?"

"Her boyfriend?"

"Hah! Poor kiddo, maybe he'll help us strip his girlfriend!"

Their own perverse comments made them laugh. It made the recipient of their negativity wince visibly as she slightly shivered and unconsciously hid herself behind her new acquaintance. It really was a bad idea to come out into the city without body guards.

Izaya grimaced. He wasn't sure what was disgusting him to no end: the fact that the Yellow Scarves losers were obviously trying to force themselves on Shizuka and brought him down to their pathetic level or the fact that Shizuka was not angered by the aforementioned fact but scared to the point she hid behind him. The usual ex-bartender would have gone berserk and kicked their asses in one swoop. Ah, he remembered, which caused him to chagrin, she was pretending she didn't remember she was Shizuka – of course, Shizuru wouldn't have reacted so violently.

He, for the umpth time of the day, shook his head, with a smirk on his face, he pulled out his switch knife. In an instant, he wiped them out. Not that he expected anything else. Such weaklings don't even have the chance to scratch him. The only person who would be able to land a hit on him was Shizuka.

He turned around to see if she was properly watching him, but to his amusement, she had disappeared.

Nevertheless, the smirk on his face turned into a soft smile, a soft smile that would have freaked you out by just having a glimpse of it – it was a soft smile yet it harbored obvious mischief and happiness combined you couldn't discern which is which.

"This is the best birthday ever."

That being said, he disappeared into the darkness with his usual hop-skip way of walking, he hummed to himself a merry tune with an insane smile intact on his handsome features as his brain started to formulate thousands of plans on how he could beat the complicated game his Shizu-chan has challenged him with.

A/N

So this chapter is a bit longer than my past two chapters, and I'm dedicating this to That-Crazy-Redhead-Chick and Uroboros187 for their reviews on the last chapter. I've began to feel a bit hopeless no one was interested, and then BAM, they reviewed. So, with revved up spirits, I wrote this extra-long chapter.

Plus, Shizu-chan sang!

Hehe, the title of the song is 'Soba Ni Iru Kara' by Amadori, the 11th ending of Naruto.

Thanks once more to my reviewers, and I hope all those who read this would review Forget Me Not.