Title: Things that change for better or for worse
Chapter 25: Challenging the Change 5
By: Sissy

Disclaimer: DRRR shall never belong to me otherwise there'd be more yaoi.
Warning: The chaos slows down to an almost stop. Poetic, isn't it?

When Saburou screeched the van to a halt, it was because he saw something in the distance that caught his eye. It was weird to say the least. Not all that much, but he did find it odd.

It seemed as though, like usual, Shizuo and Izaya were fighting. Everything was normal, up to that point anyways. What seemed odd was that, one, Masaomi was helping Shizuo; and two, that Izaya wasn't making fun of Shizuo at all. Actually, he wasn't even speaking.

"I'll go help out. You guys find your friend." Chikage said the moment he stepped out. The others were confused, wondering what he was even planning on doing. They weren't even sure if Chikage could actually help them. "No worries, my fighting spirit hasn't dwindled at all since back then. More like, I feel it firing up even more."

"Then I'll leave this area to you Rokujou-san!" Walker saluted him with a bright smile before they headed off. Walker seemed to have some trust in the man but it was simply the knowledge of his old status that caused Walker to know that Chikage would be just fine.

When Chikage barged into the fight, Masaomi was surprised. "I thought you were with Anri-chan!" The two dodged the knives headed their way as Shizuo ripped out another sign from the ground. Even with all three, Izaya had been managing to avoid almost all the attacks.

"She's with the two in the van, trying to find your best friend. The boy is more resourceful than I gave him credit. So what's happening here?" Chikage asked curiously as he dodged one of Shizuo's indiscriminate acts. He was well versed in the fact that, just sometimes, Shizuo didn't know how to aim.

"Well, we were following Mikado when Izaya suddenly tried to stop us from getting near. Kadota-san and the girls went after him but me and Heiwajima-san got stuck here. And just to make things worse, he's being really annoying." Masaomi explained to Chikage by getting closer to Izaya and trying to pass him by.

Chikage watched as Izaya avoided an attack from Shizuo and threw another knife to stop Masaomi. "You shall not pass."

Returning to Chikage with sweat falling from his brow, he tried to catch his breath. "See? It's just annoying how he won't talk normally. When have you ever seen Izaya talk that way?" Somehow, Chikage couldn't help but nod in agreement. Izaya was truly acting not very much like himself.

"So what's the plan?" Chikage asked, trying to find an opening after each of Shizuo's attacks.

"Simple!" Shizuo spoke for Masaomi, an angry grin in place. "Catch him and kill him!"

Chikage laughed loudly, glad to see that Shizuo's sense of humor hadn't dwindled in the least while Masaomi just wondered if the first part could even be done at the moment, despite the fact that he knew the second part was basically just illegal. Izaya remained quiet the whole time, causing some slight unrest with anyone left in the vicinity.

… … …

What Anri saw the moment she arrived with Walker and Saburou was a scene of utter chaos and mass bloodshed. She had heard the reports from the female children she had sent for, but something like this was beyond anything she could imagine. At the frontline were Ruri, Mairu and Simon, trying to penetrate the wall of unknown men. Anri knew some of them were the hijacked children of hers. At the moment, she still couldn't get control over them like usual.

Several of her female children were also fighting both the controlled male children and the other unknown men. Saburou, after parking his car to the side, had run towards Kyohei, who had been unconscious on the floor for some unknown reason. Walker wasn't sure where to begin but he noticed the two at the end of the battle.

"Anri-chan! Over there!" He pointed them out to the young woman and she followed his gaze until she saw them as well. However, her blood ran cold the moment she saw them both.

Mikado was barely awake and he was leaning against a wall. She couldn't see him completely but she could tell his pale complexion was becoming even whiter. His injury's getting worse! I have to save him! Without noticing it, her feelings cried out and mixed with her call. In a flash, Saika was out before anyone knew what had happened. Almost half the male fighters had fallen to the floor shortly after. Ruri and Mairu were caught by surprise when that occurred.

"Alright! Now there are less!" Mairu cried out and got back into the fight, knocking unconscious various males with ease. Simon quickly joined her, drawing ever closer to Mikado and Ruka. Anri and Ruri followed right after them, the younger female using the back of Saika's blade quite expertly.

Walker was about to join the fight but something told him it'd be best to sit it out. For the time being, he decided to help Saburou put Kyohei in the van and saw the sweets the Anri brought with them. He felt his stomach rumbling a bit and picked one up. The moment he opened it, however, he felt Saburou tugging his sweater.

"Why are they looking at us now?" He asked Walker with a nervous glance at the unknown men who had stopped fighting and were now staring emptily in their direction.

Ruri looked from Walker to her son and lowly gasped. "Run away! Quickly!" She tried to warn them at the same time that the mob ran towards the van.

"Gyaa! Zombies!" Saburou yelped and jumped to his seat at the same time that Walker closed the sliding door. Walker was about to yell at him to floor it but the driver was one step ahead of him and they were gone in an instant.

Anri and Simon looked confused at the mob that followed after the van while Mairu and Ruri quickly ran towards Ruka, effectively catching the boy. "So, you needed me since I'm a girl and we dumped Aoba-kun back there with Kuru-nee since he would've been a hindrance?" Mairu asked the mother as she ruffled the boy's hair. Ruri nodded and saw Mairu bring out her phone to call someone.

"Ryugamine-kun!" Anri turned around after overcoming the initial shock and ran to her friend. Ruri smacked Ruka over the head very lightly and Anri could hear Mikado groan. "Are you alright?"

"…ow…" He whimpered lowly as Mairu hung up and made a second call. Simon got near and tried to see if there was anything he could do for the fallen male.

"Alright! I called for an ambulance and informed Yuuhei-san that we caught Ruka-kun!" Mairu cheered loudly and looked in the direction that the van had disappeared off to. "I'm so glad they managed to at least serve as bait! We wouldn't have been able to catch you so easily otherwise." She explained to the boy, while pinching his cheek just to annoy him.

Ruri sighed as her son tried to look up at her. "You did a very dangerous thing, Ruka. Ryugamine-kun could've been seriously hurt. And you got so many people involved. Why did you need to run off like that?" Mairu watched with curiosity as the two stared at each other, as if they were having some sort of telepathic conversation. This was normal for the star family and Mairu was used to it, she just never really understood it.

A minute later, Ruri sighed and shook her head. Then she looked to be in thought and nodded to herself. Ruka grinned widely and tried to hug his mother. Once the other replied with a soft smile and hugged her son, the two turned to leave. "H-hey! Where are you two going?" Mairu asked confused and both Simon and Anri turned to see the older woman.

"We'll go join you in a moment at the hospital. I just have to call Kasuka-san to ask for his help cleaning up." Ruri replied and was gone a moment later. The three left were confused by a lot of things but had decided to ask anything later as the ambulance neared them.

To Be Continued…