Important (sort of):Those of you who are wondering if Shizuo and Izaya are gonna turn back to 'normal' can vote, I have a poll on my profile. I will decide by your votes whether to keep them as they are or change them back to their human forms :3 Secondly, REVIEWS ARE MUCH LOVED xD
Enjoy~!
As daybreaks and the light enters my room from the torn curtains I find out that I was right about reality not being better than dreams. I think I was dreaming of a big steak last night, whereas right now as I'm waking up I feel really uncomfortable. It's kind of cold, but that's not what's bothering me most. I scratch the back of my head and then my arms and legs. Damn it…
"Don't tell me…" My ears twitch slightly, making me even itchier. DAMN IT.
I can't believe it…I have fleas! I know…it sounds really stupid since I call Izaya 'flea.' These bugs are a little less annoying, but I really don't like having to scratch myself every two seconds. I pick up my cell phone and dial Shinra's number. There's nothing more annoying than waiting for someone to pick up when you have some important to ask them. It frustrates the hell out of me.
"Yes?" Shinra says groggily.
"Shinra, what the hell!?"
"'What the hell', what?" Shinra asks simply.
"Why the fuck do I have fleas?!" I say as I continue scratching myself.
"Oh…" I hear him laugh nervously then he clears his throat. "Well…you might have gotten them from Blackstorm…we discovered yesterday, after you two left, that the little guy has fleas. We got him a nice flea collar though, so he's not scratching anymore."
"Where do you by those?" I ask impatiently. "Don't tell me…"
"At the pet store." Shinra says cheerfully.
It's all that damn cat's fault…and this time I'm not talking about Izaya, which is unexpected. Here I am, in a damn pet store when everybody probably already knows full-well that I don't own a pet. Not to mention I'm still "cosplaying." I sigh as I look around the store, suddenly getting very excited when I see the toys section. My tail starts wagging, but I ignore it as I walk passed the section and head down into the collar section. There I see a lot of bright colored, sparkly, and spiked collars that I shake my head to. Still no sign of the flea collar, but as I'm about to go to another section I spot it. I'm about to grab it when I see someone else's hand about to take it also. This hand, however, was far too familiar for me to begin to act polite. The silver ring on the index finger was a dead giveaway.
"Izaya." I say icily.
"Shizu-chan, what a surprise to see you here." He says cheerfully, although his face is making somewhat of an uncomfortable look. "Are you buying something in particular?"
"Yeah, I'm buying a flea collar because Shinra's damn cat had fleas when we went over the other day." I say angrily. I take one of the flea collars that are on the rack and look at it. I begin reading the instructions and whatnot. Izaya takes a collar off the rack too and examines it.
"Ah, it even has a warranty~" Izaya states happily. "I don't know why a collar that only cost 550 yen would need a warranty, but eh, I'm not going to complain." I look at the collar he grabbed and smirked.
"That's pink." Izaya looks at me curiously before looking down at the collar.
"So?"
"So, pink is a girl's color." I say with a smile.
"Pink can be a boy's color. Colors are neutral; it's society that places labels to them." Izaya points out with a grin. "Besides I like pink."
"You like pink?" I ask with disbelief.
"Yes, it's calming."
"It's a feminine color." I add.
"Well, as they say, 'a real man wears pink.'"
"Yeah, a real gay man." I add as I roll my eyes. "Besides, who the fuck is 'they'?"
"May I help you two?" An employee asks, patiently awaiting our answer.
"Don't group us together like that." Izaya comments bitterly. "Do you have this in a larger size?"
"Um…I can go check in the back, but cat collars don't usually come in larger sizes." She points out nervously.
"Well, its fine if you can find a dog collar then, but I want it the same color~" Izaya says happily. The woman nods as she walks off and disappears through a large door.
"You're fucking weird." I comment as I walk over to the register. Izaya follows me, skipping like an idiot behind me. I get out my wallet as the cashier runs the item through the scanner and tells me the price. I give them the money and then look over to Izaya who's talking to the employee who had gone to the back to look for his frilly pink dog collar. He pays for his collar and then follows me outside where I'm trying to calm myself down by smoking. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"Putting the collar on; does it look like I'm doing something else?" Izaya says as he unbuckles the other collar and tosses it to me while he puts on the flea collar. He looks like a fucking idiot. "I feel a bit better."
"Everybody's staring, you know?"
"They must be looking at my sexy body." Izaya says with a laugh. "Anyway, that was—" Whatever Izaya was going to say, it was interrupted by him hearing something off in the distance, his ears acting like sonar and pointing towards the direction of the sound. He then faces his head in the direction of the sound and then runs off the opposite direction.
"Where the fuck are you going?!" I yell angrily. Not like I care that he's ditching me, but still, it's good to know where this louse is gonna be next so I can avoid him.
"Anywhere but here!" He says as he makes his way through the crowd. I suddenly hear the loud, various barks coming from the direction where Izaya was hearing. I laugh as I see a few dogs following the flea down the city streets. I follow the pack of dogs calmly and when I finally reach their victim, who's in a large tree, I laugh hysterically. "Shut up Shizu-chan! This isn't funny! Get them away from me!"
"I can't. I don't know how to communicate with them. Not like I would want to anyway; this is just too good of an opportunity to waste."
"You fucking brute!"
"Ah, getting mad, are we?" I say as I continue my amused laughing. "This is what you get for causing me trouble all the time. Fucking louse." Izaya clings onto the tree, impatiently waiting for the dogs to tire and head home or head to their master's, but such a thing doesn't happen, not even when an hour goes by. The dogs, by this time, are just lying down under the tree, waiting for when Izaya will get tired and come down. By now, it's getting kind of pathetic. I look up and Izaya is still clinging onto the tree, sitting there a little downheartedly.
"Alright all of you," I begin to say as I get up. "Go home." One of the smaller dogs barks at me. "No, this cat's mine, got it?" I say with a low growl. They seem to understand since they begin trotting away, all of them getting up and following each other from whence they came. "Flea, are you still alive up there?"
"I suppose." He says bitterly. "You couldn't have done that earlier?"
"I could have, but I didn't want to." I say happily. "Now get down from there. I don't have time for this crap." I say as I take another cigarette out from the box. I suddenly hear some branches above me snap and then I get knocked down by the fucking flea's weight as he comes crashing down. "What the fuck, flea!"
"I couldn't get down! And then the branch broke!" He explains as he points up towards the broken branch. "I think I hurt my ankle…" I look at him and then examine his ankle and notice it is a bit swollen and has a few cuts probably when he was forced down.
"Here, I can carry you since you seem so pathetic." I say as I lend out my hand. He takes it and gets up, but limps to one side, probably because it hurts to put pressure on his left ankle. "Put your arm around my shoulder." He does as I tell him to (surprisingly) and leans close to me so he's a bit more stable.
"Why are you being so nice to me, Shizu-chan?" I feel like he's already asked me this question.
"Just because, flea; don't question a good thing." I say as I help him get to the nearest bench as I go get some ice pack from the store across the street. "Here, you owe me 400 yen."
"Yeah…I'll pay you later…" Izaya says kind of sadly. I sit down next to him and open the bag with my flea collar in it.
"I wish this thing could repel all kinds of pests." I say as I look at him. I put the collar on and fit it snuggly on my neck.
"I wish it could repel monsters." He says as he looks at me with a smirk.
"You're as much of a monster as I am." I counter bitterly.
"That may be so, but you're also a protozoan, which I'm not."
"You're a fucking lunatic!"
"So are you. What kind of sane person would be going around the city pulling stop signs and bus stop signs from their rightful places? You cause a bunch of car accidents, I'm sure."
"Well, at least I don't stalk people!"
"I'm observing their reactions and tendencies. I'm not stalking. Stalking is for perverted people."
"Then you're a pervert."
"I'm sensing a lot of sexual tension coming from you, Shizu-chan. You're much more of a pervert than I am."
"I am not!"
"And you're a bad liar~" He says with a laugh.
"Pyschopath."
"You didn't deny that you were a bad liar." He smirks. I get angrier as I look at that stupid smirk, the same smirk he gave me the first time we met. I suddenly grab a hold of his tail and pull it fiercely. He howls in pain, though it sounds more like a meow kind of howl. He snatches his tail out of my grasp and bares his fangs at me. "That hurt, you brute!"
"It was supposed to, flea." I say as I grit my teeth. "I wouldn't have done something to make you feel good." He massages his tail and seems to be pouting; at least it looks like he would be if he wasn't so prideful. Some people passing us by seem to be staring, but then look away as I glare at them. I look over to Izaya who isn't facing me anymore and who seems to be still massaging his tail or just holding onto it out of habit. "I didn't pull it that hard. Don't be such a baby."
"I'm not being a baby. I just like holding onto my tail. It's soft." He says defensively.
"Is that your new fetish?"
"Are you implying that I had an old fetish? If so, you're truly mistaken on both accounts, since I never had and do not have a fetish."
"You have a fetish over watching humans, which is sick."
"It's not a 'fetish', it's a hobby. And don't you ever pull on my tail again!"
This argument isn't going anywhere, but we seem to enjoy making each other angry, which actually makes me feel relieved. This is what I'm used to.
"What's that sound?" Izaya asks as his cat ears move slightly, and then face in the direction of the noise.
"Hmm?" I ask as my dog ears suddenly twitch. "Sounds like a motorcycle." The motorcycle sounds much more like a horse. At this point, I realize it's Celty. She parks close to where we are and gets off her motorcycle before typing a message on her PDA for us.
[What are you guys doing?]
"Sitting…" I answer dully. "Izaya hurt his ankle."
[And you're waiting for him?]
"What?! Fuck no!" I say loudly. "I just…I was just bored so I decided to sit here."
"Again, you're a bad liar, Shizu-chan~" Izaya says with a smirk. "Celty, you have impeccable timing. I need you to give me a ride to my apartment. I can't really walk too well."
[It's either I'm deaf and I didn't quite hear you say 'please' or you didn't say it at all.]
"Now, now Celty, does it really matter?" Celty gets on her bike and turns it on before slowly starting to drive off, which is when Izaya puts his hands in the air, telling her to wait. "I get it, you're the type of person—supernatural entity—that likes to hear such unnecessary words like 'thank you' and 'excuse me' and 'please'; can I infer that much?" Izaya asks with a laugh. Celty types a quick yes and waits for said 'please' to be told. "Fine, please take me to my humble abode oh fair courier." Izaya says dramatically.
[I could do without the dramatics.]
"It's either you get it like that or not at all." Izaya says with a Cheshire cat smile. Celty allows Izaya to hop on behind her and then looks towards me. He nuzzles her back with his head affectionately, but then stops as she looks at him.
[Sorry I can't take you along Shizuo. I'll see you later.]
"Bye Shizu-chan." Izaya says as he smirks. Celty makes him a helmet before riding off; disappearing out of my sight once they turn the corner. I sigh as I put my hands in my pockets and slowly head to my own apartment. Tomorrow's Sunday…Kasuka will be visiting me tomorrow at nine o'clock in the morning. I think that Kasuka will understand if I tell him what's really going on. I don't really want to lie to him. I'd feel guilty if I did. I mean, I got fired from the job he wanted me to keep; he was counting on me staying there and I let him down. I couldn't bring myself to lie to him after all that, even though it was Izaya's fault.
I head inside my apartment and crash on my bed; I still feel a bit itchy and there are a bunch of red dots on my body, but I rather not count them. I sniff around and decide to get something to eat before watching some cartoons. It's only noon, so there's no reason to go to bed.
Izaya's POV
It's difficult to get by like this. I can't schedule any appointments because I rather not let my clients see me like this. They'll think I'm vulnerable and try to test me. They might even laugh at me, which is the most plausible idea. I rather not go through with that so, I've been resuming work by taking care of the cases which I don't have to meet face to face with the person. It's been working out rather well. Being the sly cat that I am (now) I can gather much more information. Granted, I can't fit my entire body through a hole that I can fit my head into, but I do a better job at sneaking around as a cat hybrid. I also very much enjoy this tail's warmth and silky feel.
"Hmm, I better call Namie and tell her I'm deducting her pay when she's not coming to work. I thought she already knew that though…" I say as I scratch my chin. I walk towards the kitchen and search for some left over fatty tuna from yesterday. Luckily, it's in the front so I don't have to look too hard. I sit on my couch and turn on the television as I dig into my lunch.
"Let's see what's on TV~" I say happily as I turn on the TV and sit back, slightly purring as I relax. I scan the channels for anything good, but every time I try to settle to some program, cat commercials catch my eye and I end up just watching those for twenty minutes in all. My mouth seems to salivate whenever I see any sort of cat food commercial which disturbs me. Before, those commercials didn't appeal to me whatsoever. "So boring…" I say as I sit upside down on my couch. Suddenly the doorbell rings, making me jolt a bit. A disturbed meow escapes my mouth before I go over and carefully open the door. "Namie, so you decided to show up for work!"
"Yeah, well you weren't answering your—what the heck is on your head?" She asks as she takes notice of my velvety soft ears, not really noticing my tail. "And what's that?" She says as she points to my tail which is swaying happily behind me. I only smile contently and allow her to come in.
"I'm not paying you to ask stupid, nosey questions." I say with a smirk. "Now head over to my desk and arrange my paperwork. Put it in alphabetical order for me and then chronological order by date."
"Fine…" She says as she walks past me and collects all the messy piles of papers and spreads them out on her working desk. I sit on my couch and laze around for a moment before looking at my game board. All the pieces have been untouched for some time now. "Mind telling me why you have those stupid features now?" She asks without looking at me.
"I'm cosplaying for the week or two."
"You? Why?"
"Why not? I actually think I look quite adorable this way." I say as I try to pose in a cute manner, which isn't very difficult for someone like me.
"You're as adorable as a cockroach." She says icily.
"Now, now Namie, no need to act so bitterly towards me. If the long vacation from work made you forget, I'll remind you that I'm the one who signs your checks~"
"Troll." She comments almost inaudibly. "That's the only reason why I keep working with you. I hope you realize that."
"Not like I enjoy your company either." I counter dryly as I lie on my couch. Suddenly I hear shuffling from my desk drawers and notice that she picked out something from them.
"Why do you have an empty can of catnip in your drawers?" I snatch it from her immediately and my senses are completely overtaken by the scent that still remains from the empty can, the scent lingering in the air, intoxicating my senses. "Are you okay, not like I care, but you look high."
"Shut up." I say as I hide the can in a different area. "I'm going to take a cat nap…wake me before you leave for the day."
"Yeah, yeah." She says as she waves me goodnight. I then hear her whisper. "Hope you suffocate in your sleep." It doesn't really bother me. A lot of people give me death threats, sometimes when we're face to face. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep, ignoring Namie's whispered complaints.
Shizuo's POV
"I was just bored." I explain simply to Celty as I sit on the couch, face first. "There's nothing to do until tomorrow since Tom is gone…" Celty sits next to me and scratches my head, ruffling my hair as she does so. My tail wags as I happily enjoy the attention. Shinra laughs a little and comments something along the lines of Tom being like my owner. "Shut the fuck up Shinra."
"I'm just telling you the facts. Dogs get lonely when their owners leave." Shinra says as he sits down on the one-seat couch. "Anyway, how are you and Izaya doing with this whole being part animal thing?"
"I still want to punch you in the face. Does that say anything about how I'm doing?"
"I suppose…" Shinra says as he laughs nervously. "Well, Izaya seems to have taken to himself being a cat. He told me over the phone that he feels like it could help him in his line of work, somehow…"
"Damn cat." Celty continues to scratch my head affectionately, which makes my tail wag. She scratches behind my dogs ears which make me wag my tail even faster.
"You know, Izaya is sometimes pretty intolerable, but he can have his moments." Shinra says with a smile. "Especially with his sister's." Oh right…that day when he took them to the park. "Izaya had a pretty normal childhood, but he never really understood what it meant to have friends or to be friendly. He also hasn't experienced general love and love towards one person. He told me a while back that he had once liked someone, but that his feelings weren't returned so he isolated himself from relationships." Shinra takes a book from a small bookshelf next to the TV and sighs. "I know he can be a pain sometimes, especially towards you, but I bet somewhere inside him he's really struggling to contain feelings which he doesn't wish to feel. He's suppressed humanistic feelings so far because when he was younger he was so fascinated with human tendencies, their thoughts, their reactions, their feelings. He never wanted to take into account that he might bare those same things because he observed the awful things that happen to people when they let their lives become driven by them. He wanted to gain control of those obstacles so he could be almost god-like. Thus, I believe he enjoys watching other people suffer and react so much because he doesn't experience those kinds of things himself."
"And you don't think he's just being a dick?"
"I guess so…but I'm guessing that he's being that way because he doesn't want anyone to get close. He's pushing people away so he doesn't get hurt. I suppose its better that way otherwise he'd be even more psychologically unmanageable."
"Who was it…?"
"Who was what?"
"Who was it that rejected him?"
"Ah…he didn't say…well no, that's not true. I'm pretty sure he said but I wasn't listening. My memory gets foggy a lot."
"You forgot is what you're saying."
"Yeah…" Shinra says nervously. "It was such a long time ago."
"Well no use in trying to dig up the past." I say as my ears twitch. Izaya was in love with someone? Why do I feel a bit angry when I hear that? If he was in love with someone and they rejected him, so what? It's not my place to be angry about it. That little rat deserves it right?
[Izaya just called me…]
"For what reason?" Shinra asks worriedly.
[He wrote … "Secret's out, can't blame me; she's a bit too clever for her own good." Is it something we should worry about?]
"Nah, Izaya can handle it. I only said to keep the truth a secret because it'd be more troublesome for the two of them if people found out the features were real. Animals can be manipulated kind of easily, like humans. Sometimes animals manipulate humans, sometimes it's the other way around, but since they have both human and animal blood, things get a bit tricky."
"What's happening?"
"Someone knows that Izaya's features are real. He's gonna have some tough times ahead of him." Shinra says with a smile. "It's nothing to worry over though. I'm sure things with pan out."
A/N: Who do you guys figured out Izaya was really a cat hybrid? xD I bet you guys know. Free cookies for the people who review :D