The Good Fight
Chapter Four: In Between the Lines
Disclaimer: I do not own DRRR! Only this story and the OCs.
Author's Note: I would love to thank all my reviewers. I would write personal thank yous, but this story editor is pissing me off. And I am very sorry this took so long. I have been extremely busy.
"Police have reported another missing person in the Ikebukuro area as of last night. Details behind the girl's disappearance remain unknown."
Takanabbi stood in the middle of her apartment's kitchen, staring blankly at a flashing television screen while balancing a hot cup of coffee in her hands. Her eyes were reflecting the images that were dancing across the screen, and she couldn't help but tilt her head in concern as the words of the news reporter continued to make their way to her ears.
"Law enforcers believe that the girl's, who is a minor and will remain unnamed in this report, disappearance is somehow linked to the string of kidnappings that are currently taking place in Ikebukuro."
Takanabbi took a sip of her coffee. The scalding liquid didn't faze her as it slithered down her throat. All she could focus on was the television; nothing else was catching her attention. But then –
"In other news..."
The young woman finally came to her senses and noticed that she managed to pour some of her drink down her white shirt. She gazed down at the stain, and then sighed heavily.
"What a mess," she finally said. She stood still for a moment before heading over to the nearby sink, where she picked up a pink-flowered washcloth. It was no coincidence that, two minutes later, just as she began dabbing the coffee stain lightly with the towel and some warm water, that her cell phone began to ring.
She paused her movements, and stared at the phone that was resting on her kitchen's counter. The way it was glowing at her and vibrating vigorously made her think it was angry with her for some reason.
She walked towards it apprehensively and glanced at the screen. It was definitely not a coincidence.
"What do you want?" Takanabbi said as she picked up the call.
There was a giggle on the other side of the line and a breathy exhale of air.
"Geez Tae-kun, you sound so hostile this morning. Didn't sleep well? Hmm~"
"What do you want Izaya?" the young woman snapped, glaring heatedly at the wall, as if it were the information collector himself.
She could practically feel Izaya's sneer through the phone as he went on to say, "Well I was just wondering if you watched the news report just now..."
Takanabbi remained silent. She knew that Izaya was aware that she had seen the report. She watched the news every morning, paying particular attention towards the reports of missing persons. And he just knew her too god damn well.
Izaya took her abrupt quietness as a signal to speak on, "I just received word from a source that the people that seem to be disappearing are targeted specifically."
"Oh?" the store owner replied while resting a hand on her hip. Her eyes were still narrowed at the wall. "And why are you telling me this?"
"I found it interesting and I thought 'oh, Takanabbi-kun would like to hear this'," the man on the other side of the phone remarked with the usual brittleness he used when addressing the store owner.
And then what came out of his mouth next froze Takanabbi to the core:
"Apparently the kidnappers steal away those who will not be missed."
And with that, Izaya hung up the phone so quickly that it was as if a conversation had not even existed. Takanabbi was taken aback by this as Izaya always loved to drag her around. She remained rooted stone solid for a few seconds, deciphering what actions to take, but didn't dare call him back, although there was a desperate urge to do so. She decided to remove her phone from her ear instead, and stared at the screen mindlessly, just like she had done to the television.
"Izaya..." she said quietly to herself. An unknown feeling took ahold of her. However -
She tossed the device carelessly back to the kitchen counter, where it clattered along the tile loudly, almost sounding like a train against its tracks. The sentimental moment of peace was destroyed just as it was born.
"You're just as annoying as you were in school, but I wonder..."
With that said, Takanabbi went about her usual morning routine, which consisted of making herself socially acceptable and visually pleasing, and organizing personal items into her purse, which at this point, was almost as large as she was.
She stuffed her wallet, a compact mirror and a few other assorted items in the red purse, and just as she began slipping on her white coat, she looked back at her cell phone, which was still on the kitchen counter.
Against her better judgment, she left the cell phone where it was.
"Why are you back in Ikebukuro?"
'I didn't find my head today either...even though I'm always looking for it after I get off work...'
Celty Sturluson was deep in thought this day. More so than usual. Her mind was running rampant, unknown and foreign emotions drilling her into aimless actions of riding around pointlessly on her black bike. Searching, searching, searching, always searching.
But was she really looking for her head...or something else?
"Why don't you just give up?"
Celty found herself revving her bike, sudden waves of anger flooding her body as Shinra's, her roommate and lover of sorts, words echoed throughout her. Give up on such a thing; leave her head wherever it may be?
'Like I would ever do that!'
And then the frustration subsided as she pulled up to a stoplight. She stopped her bike, balanced her legs and feet against the street so she could hold herself up and once again let her thoughts get the best of her.
'The reason I can't give up...I can't tell Shinra yet...I can't tell him of these emotions that twist within my chest. I –'
"Hey."
The sudden intrusion of another's voice compelled Celty to jump, which wrenched her once again from her memories. She quickly twisted her head to the side. Standing on the sidewalk beside her was none other than Shizuo. His stance was irritated, and Celty could feel the unease from him as she studied his eyes through his lavender glasses.
She was a bit surprised to see him, actually. He always seemed to have a knack for finding her and seeking her out at the oddest of times, and although the headless rider had more important business to attend to (finding her damn head); she decided to give the blonde her time of day.
"Celty, can you come with me for a bit?"
Nodding her head, she pulled her bike up to the sidewalk and dismounted, following behind the blonde closely as he led her to a nearby fence. She eased her bike up against it, and leaned up upon the metal appendages. She had a feeling she knew what he needed her for.
"Izaya is back in Ikebukuro," Shizuo began. He paused for a moment and Celty already knew what he was speaking of, as she had run into the information collector the night before.
"I almost got to punch him...but Simon interfered..."
Celty nodded. She wasn't particularly surprised by this revelation. But then –
"I threw a vending machine...and really messed up a girl's store."
The blonde must have felt his companion's slight shock, because Shizuo turned his face towards her. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Yeah...really messed it up...she somehow convinced Tom-san to repay her."
Another turn of events. Celty found herself leaning towards Shizuo, a bit more interested than she had started out as. Thoughts of her head were drifting slowly away from her.
"It was kind of weird actually, he gave in so easily. And now I have to help her fix it up. And it's all because of that fucking flea."
Celty shook her head and turned to face the nearby street. She was a bit disappointed in the ending of Shizuo story. The biker had actually thought his little story was going to end with a bang, but it, as always, turned back around towards his sworn "enemy" Izaya. It was always about Izaya after all.
Shizuo seemed to ignore Celty's obvious discontentment and continued on his rant.
"Unlike Kadota and Yumasaki, I'm always alone when I cause trouble," the bartender sighed. "The same goes for Izaya, since he doesn't have any friends."
A small wind blew about them, stirring Shizuo shaggy blonde hair. Celty crossed her arms and Shizuo reached for a cigarette, flicking a lighter to it soon after.
"It's not like I never get lonely...I want to meet people too, even if it's just a shallow relationship," Shizuo muttered, pressing the cigarette to his lips. "But..."
Celty once again turned towards the blonde. He seemed to be off in his own world, rambling without even realizing it. Celty had a feeling Shizuo liked her company because she didn't speak, but when he opened himself up like this, she couldn't help but want to say something.
But what could she possibly say?
Celty, unconsciously, reached a gloved hand out to his shoulder. Shizuo, who was still distracted, didn't even notice because just as his thoughts of his own feelings crossed his mind, they were overcome by none other than his ideas about Izaya.
"Why did Izaya come back to Ikebukuro?"
Celty retracted her hand instantly. Shizuo took a drag of his cigarette. The wall between them was once again in place.
But then Celty's mind clicked. Why would an information broker want to stay in Ikebukuro for more than a day? She had seen him just last night after he had mentally tortured a few shameless victims...why would he need to be in the city for any longer than that evening?
"That's right...I remember he was talking to some kid from Raira outside that girl's store –"
"Oh! Are you okay?"
A sudden commotion to the couple's left caused Shizuo to lose his train of thought, and both of them turned their attentions towards the sudden yelp. They both caught sight of a young girl with auburn colored hair, and an older girl leaning down beside her.
At first it had appeared they had just bumped into each other, as Shizuo vocalized that, but suddenly, Celty froze up.
The auburn haired girl...
'It couldn't be.'
Celty abruptly shot off towards the girls, leaving Shizuo in the dust, confused.
"Hey Celty –!"
'It couldn't possibly be!'
Before anyone could comprehend it, Celty was on her knees, grasping the auburn haired girl's wrists, completely shoving aside the other girl and completely disregarding her in every possible way.
The girl that the black rider was clinging to had her head. It was her head. It had to be. Or was this just some weird coincidence?
The auburn hair, green eyes...too familiar...too familiar...
Celty felt her chest tightening, and strange feelings of anxiety and emotional wreckage surged through her body. How could this possibly be...?
'My head...'
The girl and Celty made eye contact.
There was this dazed look in the young girl's eyes. She looked confused, lost and in another place. She didn't seem aware of anything going on. However, when her reflection flashed across Celty's yellow helmet, something happened.
Horror ripped across her expression and she let out a terrible cry of fear that rang through the streets of Ikebukuro.
She flew to her feet, scared like a rabbit and tried to dart away from Celty. But the Dullahan had a firm grip on her, and mimicked her movements while somehow managing to type a quick message on her phone.
"I just want to get a close look at your face!", printed itself on the device's screen.
The girl didn't even look at it, and yelled out again.
"No, no, no!"
Celty, unable to keep up with the frightened teen, lost her handle of the girl when she suddenly snapped her arm to the side.
Shizuo, who had been making his way over towards the scene, tried his best to intervene by catching the girl in his arms.
"Whoa, whoa hey calm down...we're not trying to hurt you –"
A sharp and abrupt pain erupted in Shizuo's leg though. He gasped from shock, and shot his eyes down towards the pavement of the sidewalk. A young teen with slicked back brown hair was nestled at his feet, pen in hand, while simultaneous digging another one deep into the bartender's flesh.
"Let go of her," he hissed, a crazed and wild look on his face as he glared vehemently up at Shizuo.
Celty, still trying to snag a hold of the girl, caught wind of the situation and panicked. Before the biker could realize it, the girl was off running down the street, leaving her in a daze. Her friend was injured but then her mind was torn in two.
Her head – Shizuo – her head – Shizuo –
"Hey."
Celty looked to Shizuo.
"Go on, I'm not sure what's going on but you need to chase her, right?"
Celty, taken aback and senses somewhat lost, bowed deeply to the blonde. She would owe him largely. Then, wasting no more time, she ran to her bike and instantly set off after her prey. She forgot about Shizuo for the time being.
Shizuo then smiled widely. Animal-like almost, and turned his views back to the young boy who was awkwardly stumbling to his feet, trying to obviously run after the two women. However Shizuo caught him by the collar of his shirt, and lifted him up off the ground with little effort.
The boy kicked and hissed at his restraint. Shizuo sighed.
"Is she your girlfriend or something?" the older man asked. The boy scowled down at him.
"That's right; I'm destined to be with her!"
Shizuo gave him a blank look.
"Why is she like that?"
"Like I'd know that!"
"What's her name?"
"Like I'd know that!"
"...what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Shizuo's anger erupted, and without thinking, he threw the high school student straight into the air. The boy flew, stupefied, until he landed on the concrete of the street in a crumpled heap. The bartender walked after him, and again reached down and lifted him by his shirt's collar.
"Not knowing the name of the person you love...isn't that a bit irresponsible?" Shizuo griped. He was reviewing the boy with an irritated yet intent gaze.
The teen just glowered at him like an angry cat, "A name has nothing to do with loving someone."
Shizuo blinked, utterly confused. "Huh? Then why are you destined to be with someone whose name you don't even know?"
"Because I love her! There's no other answer!" the boy screamed, kicking his legs out at Shizuo. The blonde merely lifted him higher into the air, so that he could dodge the boy's feet.
Then he stopped. The boy went limp in Shizuo's hand. His voice went grave and deep without warning.
"You can't replace love with words."
And again without warning, the boy flipped like a light switch, sharp objects seeming to sprout from his fingertips as they were driven into Shizuo's hand. The pain was just like the pens, sharp and deep. However all Shizuo could focus on was the boy saying, "The only thing I'm going to do is protect her!"
The blonde bared his teeth in a wolfish grin.
"I like you more than Izaya...so I'm going to go easy on ya."
With that said, Shizuo slammed his head forward into the boy's. It was all so sudden and unexpected that the crowd surrounding the two stared in pure astonishment. Just as fast as it had happened, the boy was knocked out form the sheer force of the blow. He was soon casually dropped into a heap on the sidewalk by his assailant.
Shizuo breathed out loudly. Unlike the spectators that were surrounding the two males, he was not at all surprised that something like this had occurred. It was a typical event in his life, beating up random people he did not know.
The blonde made a little hissing noise shortly after his sigh. His injuries inflicted by the boy came back to haunt him with that tiny exhale of air.
"Ah...my wounds will bleed out if I take these out. I'll take them out after I buy some bandages...or maybe glue would work better."
"You okay?"
Shizuo, caught off guard from the sudden voice, tore his eyes down to his left. The young woman, whom Celty had pushed aside, was standing beside him. It was none other than -
"Tae-san?"
The steel haired woman's eyes met the blonde's.
"Hello," Takanabbi greeted. She raised her hand in a small wave. It was rigid and robotic like.
Shizuo and Takanabbi uneasily watched each other. The crowd around them had started to disperse, and Shizuo felt oddly alone. Takanabbi broke the uneasy silence after a few tense moments.
"Your hand and leg..."
Shizuo looked down at his hand, the pain rekindling and causing him to wince slightly. "Yeah...don't worry about it I'm going to go and –"
"Come to my shop, it's nearby and I can help you."
Takanabbi turned away from Shizuo, automatically assuming the blonde would follow her, no questions asked. She then seemed to forget that the young man was behind her completely as she took a few steps forward and her mouth began to form words.
"I was just running some errands, but then that girl..." she muttered.
"Oh yeah did she run into you?" the bartender inquired then, cutting the girl away from her dream world. His speech left his mouth before he could stop it. He then found himself staring at her back expectantly.
"Yeah she just ran into me and then just collapsed," the store owner replied slowly. "I'm a little worried...she looked sick."
"Sick?"
Takanabbi shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and began to walk forward again. Her gestures and behavior made Shizuo feel as if she were suspicious about the events that had just transpired. Like she knew what was going on. And the way her head hung and how her shoulders were lax...
"Hey...you okay?"
"Yes I'm fine," Takanabbi said quickly. She tossed her red purse up her shoulder and slid her eyes back at Shizuo. "Hurry up; the loan shark wouldn't want to lose his most valuable asset because of blood loss. And you haven't finished fixing my shop yet."
Takanabbi began to charge forward again and Shizuo, at this point, decided he had no other choice.
And so he followed.
Something was bound to change when if I came here.
I knew that the unordinary would eventually happen.
And right now…
I was in the midst of the unordinary.
In Tae Grocery, Shizuo was promptly shoved down onto a stool behind the check-out counter with little warning or hesitation from Takanabbi. She moved quickly about, whispering things the bartender couldn't comprehend. All he could do was watch the little woman scamper about from the back storage room and the front counter.
Shizuo glanced down at his hand again. The blood had begun to run down his wrists, staining his white dress shirt. Another one ruined. No wonder he was always penny pinching, he had to spend half of his paycheck on a new set of clothes at least once a week since they were always destroyed in fights and whatnot.
Pushing that thought aside, Shizuo turned his focus back to the store owner, who was piling medical bandages, ointment and other knickknacks on the counter beside them. She picked a gauze pad out from the wreckage, soaked it in ointment and then grabbed at Shizuo's hand, giving him little time to do anything for himself.
The blonde stayed silent and did not complain as Takanabbi picked at his skin. Her touches were rough as she patted the ointment into his wounds, and Shizuo found himself unconsciously flinching as she pressed gauze against his cuts, which was followed by her tightly wrapping bandages around his injured hand.
She made a move to pat some ointment on his leg, but stopped herself. She looked down at the ointment soaked pad, and handed it to Shizuo, avoiding eye contact.
"You can do your leg yourself," she stated. She almost sounded disgusted about the thought of touching him there. The bartender took the gauze out of Takanabbi's hand, his fingers momentarily brushing hers. She whipped her hand away from him, as if she had been shocked by something.
Shizuo awkwardly looked away from her and pressed the pad against his bleeding leg.
"Sorry," he muttered. He felt somewhat rejected by her abrupt actions. However the rejection wasn't new to him. He grew up surrounded by it, drowning in it.
It still hurt none the less. Or was that his leg that was causing him pain...?
"It's fine," the young woman responded. She turned back to the pile of items that lay on the countertop. "Do you get in fights like this often? You don't seem fazed by it."
Shizuo let out a sarcastic 'humph', "Yeah...daily basis kind of thing. Always has been since my school days."
"I see."
"...yeah, Raira wasn't the best of times."
Takanabbi met eyes with Shizuo after this comment. He pressed the gauze harder into his leg.
"You said you went to Raira."
Takanabbi nodded.
"You hung out with Izaya."
"Unfortunately," Takanabbi snapped.
Shizuo couldn't help but smile a bit at her vehemence at the mention of the flea, "I saw you with him a lot...it took me awhile to recognize you."
"I just graduated recently...I'm surprised you remember me, senpai."
"Senpai?"
"I was at my first year when you were a senior."
Takanabbi could tell he was a bit surprised by this revelation, as a confused look swept past his face.
"You're really young...I would have never guessed."
The grey haired girl tried to smile, but it was lop-sided and awkward. "I get that a lot."
Shizuo stood up then, feeling the need to suddenly leave.
"I'm sorry for the trouble I caused...but thanks," he muttered, gesturing towards his hand.
"You're welcome."
Shizuo glanced about the store, deciding that the subject best be changed. "Do you want me to –"
"Come tomorrow evening, when your wounds are a little bit more healed. I don't want you bleeding everywhere."
"Okay."