Notes: It's kind of funny to think that this story is just cliffhanger after cliffhanger after cliffhanger. I mean, seriously, the end of almost every chapter is a cliffhanger. Isn't that strange? Well, at least it draws out the suspense. And it's near impossible to write this story without constant cliffhangers.

I'd like to thank everyone for their awesome reviews! They totally make my day and motivate me to write. Seriously, most of my stories only get updated once every two months or something, but I feel the need to write faster for this story because I have so many people who are waiting for an update. And thanks for helping me hit the 100 reviews mark!

Also, one reviewer brought up the unrealistic amount of time that Izaya is staying alive. I'd like to say that I do realize that in the real world, Izaya would probably have been dead by now and I knew this from the moment I began planning the story – but it was too much fun for me not to write it. I was hoping you guys would forgive me for this huge flaw in the story and accept me saying that in all honesty, it was never meant to be accurate. Considering this is a story happening in a world where Dullahans exist, men can jump off buildings and lift vending machines, I'll just say that in the world of Durarara, people can survive buried alive for longer than they would in this world.

Hope you enjoy the chapter and please review!

Chapter Six

He didn't know how it happened and didn't even recall moving from his sitting position, but all he knew was that one second he was seated on the couch and the next he was on the ground, hand squeezing Nakamura's neck and an animalistic snarl building up in his throat.

"What the hell are you talking about? You made a promise!" he howled, barely able to stop himself from crushing the man's throat. Somewhere in the back of his mind he recognized that this wasn't such a good idea.

Nakamura spluttered and coughed, scrabbling weakly at Shizuo's hands, face turning red. There was a loud yell and Shizuo felt someone grab him from behind and pull him off roughly. His grip loosened completely and Nakamura spluttered and coughed, heaving in a great big breath.

The person who had grabbed him was the giant of a bodyguard who had let him in. The man grasped the back of his shirt, ignoring his struggling.

"Nakamura-sama, what do I do with him?" he asked calmly. Shizuo was too enraged to think clearly, and his frantic movements were doing little good; the man was about as strong as Simon. He could tell that he'd underestimated the bodyguard, just from the fact that Shizuo's erratic movements didn't affect him at all.

Nakamura took a few long seconds to recover, rubbing at his throat. When he spoke, his words were directed at Shizuo:

"Ah, such a strong reaction. I didn't foresee this happening, I must admit." He coughed slightly, standing up on wobbly legs. "Though you have to understand the choice I've made, Heiwajima-san. This isn't a game for me. This is revenge."

"You're disgusting," Shizuo spat. "You're dealing with someone's life here!"

"Forgive me, Heiwajima-san. But if I were to allow the informant to live, then I might as well erase the memory of my wife's death from my mind and spit on her grave. I began this with the intention of making Izaya suffer a long and humiliating death, and I'm not going to change that, even if it results in my own demise."

Shizuo roared, reaching behind him and digging his nails into the wrists of the bodyguard, who yelled and let go. He fell to the ground, then whirled around and grabbed the bodyguard's shirt and pant leg and hoisted him above his head, only vaguely aware of the man's surprised shout.

Without hesitation he lurched forward, throwing the man in Nakamura's direction. The former drug dealer had quick enough reflexes to jump out of the way, slamming into the ground gracelessly. The bodyguard smashed into the table, sending it toppling over.

The bodyguard jumped up almost immediately, unfazed, and pulled out a gun from inside his suit. Shizuo jumped behind the couch when the man fired, glancing back at the bullet holes in the wall. The man continued to fire and Shizuo kicked the couch hard enough for it to go flying across the room.

The couch hit the bodyguard with a thud and smashed him against the wall before rebounding onto the floor. Dazed, the man had dropped the gun and tottered against the wall.

Seizing his chance, Shizuo leapt forward and grabbed the front of the man's shirt, then lifted him up over his head. In a move of blind fury he twisted his body and brought the bodyguard down headfirst onto the ground. With a sickening snap his neck broke and his body flopped to the ground lifelessly. Shizuo didn't spare him a glance and let go of him, whirling his head around to find Nakamura.

Nakamura hadn't moved from his spot on the floor. He was staring at Shizuo with calm acceptance, unmoved by the violent performance that had just occurred in front of him. He didn't flinch when Shizuo approached him, didn't resist when he was forcefully lifted up until his face was inches from the man.

"I don't appreciate you dragging me into your fucked up revenge scheme," Shizuo growled, black creeping into his vision. "And I really don't like what you're doing to Izaya. He may be a flea, but even he doesn't deserve what you've done to him."

Nakamura smirked. "Doesn't he?"

There was a second of darkness, in which Shizuo's entire vision turned black and he had no idea what he was doing. All he could feel was animalistic anger and when his vision cleared, Nakamura's body was limp, hanging from his grip like a rag doll. He let go, watching the corpse fall to the ground with lifeless, empty eyes. The telltale sign of his death were the bruises around his neck and the clearly mangled throat where Shizuo had crushed his airway beyond repair.

The only sound in the room was Shizuo's harsh breathing, which was slowing down every second. His limbs felt heavy as his anger drained away and he turned to stare at the two bodies on the floor. Weakly, he willed for one of them to move, to show that they were still alive, but the corpses remained motionless.

"Oh God…" he muttered, his voice cracking slightly. He crouched down and gripped Nakamura's shoulder gently, shaking him to no effect. "Please move…please say something…"

No response.

A strangled gasp escaped his lips and he stood up, stumbling back slightly, eyes wide with shock. He had just killed a human being. Two human beings. He was a murderer, a lowlife scum who had just taken the lives of other humans. And not even in self-defense. He'd done it out of pure rage.

He looked down at his hands, which were shaking violently. Neither of them were covered in blood, but he still felt the need to wash them, maybe even peel the skin off his entire body just to feel clean inside again. He felt disgusting, ashamed for what he'd just done.

Shizuo staggered towards the bathroom, almost falling onto the bathroom counter and hurriedly turning on the tap. He washed his hands, ignoring the blisteringly hot water and scrubbing at them, heaving short, panicked breaths. What if the police found him? Would he go to jail? Of course he would, that was a stupid question. Maybe he could get off on self-defense if he lied, but he wouldn't be able to lie. Not for this.

Oh God, what would his brother think? Kasuka would be disappointed in him for sure, maybe even stop talking to him and disown him. Who wanted to be the brother of a cold-blooded murderer?

He had to get rid of the evidence, make sure Celty didn't find out as well. She was the only one who knew he was here, or at least he hoped so. He had no idea whether Nakamura had told anyone else about this meeting. If anyone else knew, then they would guess that he had been here. They'd know that the last person to see Nakamura would be Shizuo, dropping off the suitcase full of money to get Izaya's-

Izaya.

"Izaya," he repeated, his throat suddenly as dry as the desert. "Fuck, Izaya. Oh fuck, oh no."

Nakamura had been the only person to know where Izaya was buried. And with Nakamura dead…

He sprinted out of the bathroom, running towards the first set of drawers he saw. He pulled them out, going through the papers like a madman, searching for any sign of Izaya's location, any possibility that Nakamura had written it down. He searched Nakamura's pockets, the bodyguard's clothes, the kitchen, the bedroom and every other damn room in the apartment, throwing useless objects behind him and completely trashing the place.

All in all, it took moments of frantic, speedy searching before he realized that Nakamura had kept Izaya's location in only one place…his own head.

He pulled out his cell phone, dreading this conversation, and called Izaya.

- 0 –

- 0 –

When the phone rang, Izaya was sure the shock gave him a minor heart attack. His eyes flew open and he squeezed the phone in his hand tightly, only to realize that there was no phone in his hand.

While Shizuo had been delivering the suitcase, Izaya had been attempting to meditate – or something along those lines – and slow his breathing, affording him a little more time in this box. Although it had been difficult to stop the instinctual panic of being trapped like a rat in a cage, he'd managed to close his eyes and relax, forcing himself to let his mind wander to more pleasant things.

But the loud blaring of the phone had scared the crap out of him and now he was back to his agitated state, though this time a burst of hope went through him.

It must be Shizuo, calling to tell him that he knew where Izaya was. He grabbed the phone and brought it to his ear, feeling a touch of relief when he heard Shizuo's voice:

"Izaya? Are you…okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What did Nakamura say? Do you know where I am?" he demanded impatiently.

"There's a slight problem…"

"Problem? What problem?" Izaya's voice went up slightly in pitch, feeling a twinge of worry.

"Nakamura didn't want to tell me where he buried you. He said this was revenge and he didn't intend to let you out of this alive," Shizuo answered all in one breath, as if he was scared he was about to stop talking. Izaya felt his heart flutter, but forced himself to remain calm. He was an informant. He had experience in dealing with people who didn't necessarily want to reveal certain information.

And in all honesty, in the back of his mind he'd had a suspicion that Nakamura wasn't willing to let him survive this. But it hadn't meant that all hope was lost.

"Okay…okay, that's a setback. But we can get around that. I doubt you're as good as me at manipulating people, so we'll have to try another approach-"

"Izaya…"

"Perhaps using violence? I know you don't like to deliberately hurt people, but this is pretty important, don't you agree, Shizu-chan?"

"Izaya…"

"Nakamura might respond to pain-"

"Izaya! Damn it, Nakamura's dead!"

Izaya paused, frowning slightly. He felt the ridiculous need to rub his ears to get rid of the roaring sound inside of them as well as the sound of the blood pulsing through his head. Surely Shizuo hadn't just said…

No, that was ridiculous. Nakamura wasn't dead. Nakamura couldn't be dead, because if he was dead and Shizuo sounded this distraught then it meant that there was nobody who knew where Izaya was buried. And logically that would mean that Izaya was then going to die in this godforsaken box, alone and in pain.

Through his haze of bewilderment he could hear his breathing picking up slightly and a foggy rage clouding his mind. He struggled to keep his voice calm as he spoke his next words:

"Care to repeat what you just said, Shizu-chan?"

He could almost see Shizuo wincing at the venom in his tone. "When he told me he wasn't going to ever let you escape I just…went crazy and I don't know how but he ended up dead. He's dead, Izaya."

Izaya laughed harshly, with borderline hysteria at the edge of his voice.

"I-Izaya?"

"Of course! Of course you would have killed him, Shizu-chan! I don't know why I ever expected anything different. Now that I look back, I should have predicted that the moment my life lay in your hands – the hands of an uncultured, brutish, savage monster – I was doomed!" he cried, still laughing.

Shizuo was silent on the other hand, obviously hurt by his cruel words. But he didn't care. In fact, the thought of Shizuo's pain just spurred him on.

"Why did I think I could depend on you? You've always been a half-wit, even stupider than a vegetable and I always knew it. I guess my situation led me to find hope in even you, but I guess you've proved me wrong, Shizu-chan. You are, and always will be nothing but a monstrous, inhuman beast with no morals and a penchant for violence. No, even worse. Now you're a murderer."

"Stop it…stop it now…"

"Did it feel good, Shizu-chan, to kill someone with your own hands? They'll hunt you down like the animal you are once they find out. Oh, but I'm sure you'll enjoy the chase," Izaya mocked.

"Stop saying this…"

He knew he was going too far, but he kept pushing, because it felt good to release his anger. Nakamura was dead now, so he couldn't hate him anymore. But he could hate the one who had killed Nakamura. He could hate Shizuo.

"How do you think everyone's going to react when they find out? I wonder if your brother will disown you. After all, it wouldn't be good for his reputation to be the brother of a bloodthirsty killer, would it, Shizu-chan?"

"Izaayaaaaaa-" Shizuo's tone was changing from hurt to angered, but the informant either didn't notice or didn't care.

"The two of you are such an interesting pair, don't you think? You being a brainless protozoan and your brother being an emotionless freak-"

"Don't talk about Kasuka that way!" Shizuo howled. "I don't know why I ever tried to help you in the first place! I should have just let you rot in there like the flea you are and made the world a better place! You can forget about me helping you now! I'm done!"

And he hung up.

Izaya was left in silence once again, only this time it was even scarier than before, if that was possible. Shizuo had left him so quickly he hadn't even had time to process what was happening. Now he felt that maybe he'd made a terrible, terrible mistake.

With shaking fingers he called Shizuo once again. In a frightening sense of déjà vu, nobody picked up the phone. He could hear the ringing, but nobody was answering.

"Shizu-chan? Shizu-chan, pick up the phone," he mumbled, panic growing. "Shizu-chan, pick up the phone! Pick up the goddamn phone!"

Nobody answered and he dropped the phone, eyes glazing over. Shizuo had abandoned him.

"Shizu-chan, you bastard." he mumbled calmly. "You left me to die."

He closed his eyes, groaning under his breath.

Why did Shizu-chan leave me? Why did he leave me to die?

- 0 –

- 0 –

Shizuo stared in horror at the phone he had just chucked out the window. Unlike last time he'd thrown his phone away, he regretted the action immediately and ran to the window watching as the object plummeted towards the ground.

"Izaya!" he yelled, even though the informant wouldn't be able to hear him. He'd hung up on him before throwing the phone out. Why had he done that?

To his intense relief, the phone landed in an open garbage truck that had stopped at the traffic lights. He nearly laughed out loud at the sheer coincidence of it – he thought things like that only happened in movies! There was still a chance that the phone might not be damaged. Even if it were a small chance, he'd still take it.

His relief however, was short-lived. The lights turned green and the truck began to drive off – "No!" – and any second now it would be gone and his only means of communication with the informant disappearing along with it.

He looked back frantically, easily deciding that there was no time to go down the stairs; the truck would be long gone by then. So in a moment of clarity he did what any other completely sane person would do in such a situation.

He jumped out the window.