Yaaah, another one.
Gomen, gomen, no excuses, I was procrastinating, hahaha *scratches her head embarrassed*. Besides, I kept on changing some things and still didn't come out that good.
Disclaimer: (go see first chapter) ...I believe I wrote a disclaimer at least. I don't remember anymore... Hontoni, baka ja naino?, konno atashi wa...
Still unbeta-ed.
Same warnings as the first chapter, although Izaya doesn't appear here, I'm not getting to the "drama" just yet.
Hope you enjoy it.
SKY
Second Cloud
- A few hours prior –
Shizuo Heiwajima was a strong man. That was a fact no one could refute. But that didn't keep him from falling ill once in a while.
He wasn't a morning person either.
The fortissimo of Ikebukuro woke up in his king-sized bed and sluggishly dragged himself to sit at edge of it grumbling all the while, his eyes squinted and feeling a light headache and dizziness overcome him once he tried to get up. However, he disregarded them not too long after; he had to work after all. Something about an especially though and problematic debtor Tom had trouble with. Oh, he couldn't wait to give him a hard time throughout the streets of Ikebukuro…How dare he cause trouble to his senpai? Unforgivable.
The blonde had looked up to his senpai always. Having his calm demeanor in every situation, not getting angry even at the most bastard-ly people he came across and smiling virtually all the time was what gained his respect. Add his gentle attitude and accurate advices and you get the perfect senpai ever. He really was glad Tom had found him after the disaster with the police caused by Izaya. He owed him a huge one.
While reminiscing a little on his past situation, he took a quick shower, letting the warm water lessen somehow his headache. He stepped out of the bathroom only clad in a dark green towel around his waist and made his way to the kitchen to grab his last two bottles of milk, making an internal note to go buy more later. He run his big hand trough his still wet hair in order to get it out of his face, as it had gotten a little bit longer than what he considered comfortable, and heaved a deep sigh. Something told him the day was going to be a long one.
He slipped on the attire he was already known for all around Ikebukuro, took his wallet, cigarettes, lighter and keys and went out of his home in the second floor of a decent-looking building near the city center -his brother Kasuka's courtesy-.
"Whoops…" Shizuo had to go back in. "Forgot the cell phone!"
Just when he was about to step out definitely, the phone rang. Entering once again, he closed the door behind him in a rush and caught the phone before it went to the answering machine.
"Hello?"
"Brother…"
"Ah, Kasuka! How are you? I was just going to work."
"…wanted to know how you were…"
"I'm fine, I'm fine, same as always. Did you need anything else? I'm running a little late, sorry, but I'll make it up to you this evening, yeah?"
"Sure…Sorry." Kasuka just could imagine his brother making little jumps from one foot to another in a nervous way from being late.
"Nah, it's okay. Call you back later then, 'kay?"
"…Ne!"
"Yeah?" surprised, Shizuo made a pause before hanging up.
"…sure you're okay? You don't sound as always…"
"Ah-ahahaha, as expected of you, can't get anything past you, huh? But really, I'm okay, just a little headache, nothing for you to worry about."
"Bu-"
"Kasuka, I'm the older brother here, right? I know I've caused you trouble, but you don't have to be that worried, really." Really, Shizuo just couldn't help the warm smile from appearing on his lips. Kasuka wasn't one of many words, but he was able to convey a lot of feelings somehow. The blond knew he was worried about him.
"…if you say so."
"Yep, so, call you back!"
"Brother!"
"Yes?"
"You know I love you, right?"
"Of course. Love you too. Talk to you later!" The smile was threatening to stay on his face for the rest of the day. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad a day as he thought it'd be.
-Click-
"Yeah… Brother, the problem isn't your headache, it's you yourself when you're ill, which is very rare…The thing is you don't remember the last time it happened…"
(*)
"Shizuo, here!" Tom waved from further down the street the bartender was sprinting through at that moment.
"Sorry, Tom-san, I got a call from Kasuka at the last minute." The blond tried to explain himself even though Tom knew Shizuo was not one to slack off, so the man with the dread locks merely nodded and absently wiped his glasses. What constantly amazed Tom was the endurance of the person in front of him, who hadn't needed the time he had provided with this type of small actions to catch his breath again nor was he resting his hands on his knees like any normal person would have done after having run through half Ikebukuro to arrive on time. Must be from all the 'training' with Orihara-kun…
"So, where's this problematic debtor?" the blonde asked, pushing up the sunglasses that had slid a little down his nose on the run.
"That's what I was going to talk you about, it seems at the mention of your name he paid up rather quickly, so there's been a change in our plans, we are to keep collecting like usual."
"Maaan, and I was hoping to get rid of some accumulated stress…That flea has been rather active this past week and I was only able to give him a scratch on his ugly mug with that traffic signal… Whatever."
So that's exactly what they did. They walked all around Ikebukuro ambushing their 'victims', sometimes on their usual hang-out places -like pachinko establishments, host clubs or back-door clubs-, sometimes at their own homes. Just for the sake of completing their job.
The only event worth mentioning was when two defaulters teamed up to prevent being caught around 8 pm, when the sun was already setting(*) and the east part of Ikebukuro was starting to light up to avoid being engulfed but the shadows the night brought along. It also signaled the end of their 'shift', although this was never to be taken to the letter, as they had a predetermined number of 'clients' they had to…attend to.
Tch, the bastards just HAD to scatter, right? I know I was hoping to give the other one a hard time throughout Ikebukuro, but it was a form of speech, they never run away! Thought Shizuo while dashing after one of them through the back alleys. I'll have to leave the other one to Tom-san and hope he's the dumb weakling he seemed to be... At last!
The fortissimo of Ikebukuro had managed to corner the other man into a dirty dead end, surrounded by many dumpsters and pieces of cardboard and glass. The brunette quivered in one corner, crouched like a small mouse caught by the big bad cat, or in this case, a savage lion.
Shizuo approached him with diplomatic intention though, his extended palms in front of him with a pacifying purpose. No need to beat him out of the blue without trying to reason with him beforehand, right? But his reputation preceded him and, fearing for his well-being, the trembling man grabbed a shard of glass and started waving it all around without any aim, managing to make a slash at Shizuo's forearm, which started to feebly bleed.
"M-MONSTER! DAMN YOU TO HELL, ALWAYS CAUSING HAVOC WHEREVER YOU GO, HURTING OTHERS AND MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR EVERYBODY! E-EVERYONE IN IKEBUKURO WISHES THAT YOU WEREN'T BORN IN-… th-this world..." –the man lost his voice. He struggled to even get a breath in his lungs, his throat burning and constricted from the embodiment of pure dread that loomed over him.
Shizuo saw red. He did exactly what was 'expected of him' and hurled the brunette over the alley wall, which wasn't tall enough to be climbed by a normal person, but didn't reach the height of the buildings that surrounded the secluded path, and slumped against the brick surface on his right, cradling his head in his hands.
He didn't like thinking like Izaya, separating himself from the rest of the world, but these… humansalways managed to get the worst out of him and he didn't even like violence. He didn't want to be angry all the time. He didn't want to hurt anyone nor cause trouble or havoc. All he felt was sadness that cut open his heart every time he was refused, sadness that he transformed into anger in order not to be taken as the weak person he actually was deep down inside. Because deep down, Shizuo Heiwajima wasn't a strong man, and only him could refute that fact.
*[A/N]: I didn't want to put that bar there, but FF wouldn't let me put another thing, like asterisks nor letters nor anything. FF hates me. He kept deleting things I had saved and changing my chapter however it wanted, like putting the title on the left said, instead of the center, where I kept putting it, ornot allowing me to write it underlined... It was impossible for me to change it after all. ¬¬
*[A/N]: Yeah, I think I made up the fact that the sun sets at 8 pm. Bear with it… although I think around spring it does. I know that, in winter here in Spain, the sun starts setting around 6 pm. In summer, I think it's around 10 pm. Mah, whatever, silly details.
Drop a review, yeah? Wanna know how you're seeing this. You'll get a...brownie! Since I gave out cookies last time.
If there's a really big grammatical error, do tell me please. If they aren't that big, well... damn M. Word and its corrections, as well as the online spellchecker from Toggle.
Thank you very much for reading this. Thanks to all those who reviewed. Although I believe I've answered to all the reviewers, they deserve it either way.
Oh, I wanted to make a special mention to Racey (I'm gonna start calling her Racey-onee-sama). I've noticed I'm mentioned in her bio and it made me really happy. If you don't know her, and love Bleach (and yaoi), I recommend her stories VERY MUCH. Seriously, they're amazing, and hot, and she's a genius at writing.
*cough* So that's it, at last. Sorry for the long A/N.
Thanks again for reading,
Gusi~ (=^w^=)
P.S: Sorry if you got two mails in your inbox. FF hates me, like I said, so I had to re-upload it.