Yay, another chapter :3 Hope you all enjoy. I really love the reviews so keep them coming if you're able to~! Thanks so much!
Izaya's POV
There are a few clouds in the sky right now, but they don't look like they're going to drop buckets of water on me, thankfully. People are still interested as to why I'm like this, especially little children, but I ignore their stares. I feel terrible right now. I've always liked messing with Shizu-chan since it was always so entertaining, but trying to make him suffer by ignoring him and making him think that I'm not longer interested in him is painful for me.
It's difficult to try an ignore my feelings for him and play hard to get, but if some humans do this to pick up people it must work, maybe even be amusing to watch them beg, right? I've never seen Shizu-chan beg so, I wouldn't mind trying this whole hard to get thing to see how this all goes down. Besides, a little playful revenge never hurt anyone.
"Celty, there's nothing to worry about. They'll be alright. I mean, the serum I made is perfectly safe." I hear Shinra's voice from behind the door. "I just couldn't believe it worked so well and I didn't think they would believe that whole 'gave you animal blood' explanation. I could have sworn that Izaya would have been smart enough to know if something like that did happen it'd never be able to turn them into hybrid animals." That little! "I'm glad the experiment worked though and I killed two birds with one stone. I tested out my serum and I helped those too get a little closer. It was genius!" I grit my teeth while the fur on my ears and tail stand up. "I'm just gonna let things take off from here before telling them that I 'made' the antidote." I open the door at this point, practically swing it open, and glare at Shinra as soon as I find him. "Gah! Izaya-kun! This is…a pleasant surprise…?" He says nervously as he sits closer to Celty, probably hoping for protection.
"Hello Shinra. I couldn't help but hear the lovely monologue you were telling to Celty just now~"
"Ah, ah that…well…I…" Shinra stutters as he stands up and slowly backs away from me. "Listen, I can explain…"
"Please do. I'm dying to hear the whole story." I say as I glare at him.
So…here I am with Shinra and Celty in the living room trying to follow Shinra's explanation.
"After the accident…it was a successful, standard blood transfusion, but while you two were out of it, I decided to take advantage of that perfect opportunity and test out a new serum I had made…I had lied about giving you animal blood to the both of you and thought that if you believed it was an accident then I wouldn't be murdered!" Shinra pauses and sighs.
"Why did you even think about making us this way though?" I ask him angrily.
"Well, if you were animals I thought I could control you both…that is, classically conditioned you to do as I wished and begin to help you both to get along with each other. I was going to make both of you dogs…but something went horribly wrong…I suppose I didn't label the serums correctly and the result is kind of staring me in the face."
"Do NOT refer to me as 'the result'." I say with a cat-like growl. "First of all I can't believe you would dare do this to me! I knew I smelled something suspicious and Celty was in on all of this!" I point to the accused sitting next to the mad doctor and pout as I sit back in the recliner. "Next you're gonna tell me that you've had the antidote all along." It suddenly turns silent. "Of course. Why would I think any different?"
"Izaya-kun, please try to understand…I was doing all of this for you guys. I wanted to have you both get along. Isn't that considered 'having good intentions' or was I truly in the wrong?" Shinra asks nervously.
"Look, just tell me one thing…if Shizu-chan and were to ask for the antidote, you'd change us back?" I ask uneasily.
"Of course…now that you know I suppose it's best to ask you if you'd like to change back to normal. And I suppose it's best to tell Shizuo the truth now too…you two are getting along now…so I suppose it's safe to change you both back."
"I'll…tell Shizu-chan. You don't have to bother with it. He'll probably throw the whole couch at you if you tell him. I'll tell him in person." I say as my ears flatten against my head. Shinra nods and pats my head, probably silently thanking me for understanding.
This is more than I can stand. I'm not mad at Shinra for doing what he did. I just hope that I can keep this little "experiment" going for longer than anyone expects. I don't want to change back to normal if Shizu-chan is finally treated me like this. If I can lie to him and have the experiment prolonged then I might be able to have Shizu-chan fall in love with me during that time. If we both change back to normal it's possible that we're going to return to our daily routine of our fighting.
"And what if by some small chance, Shizu-chan and I want to stay the way we are, Shinra?" I ask before leaving out the door. He stares at me with a confusing look. I look at him casually as if the question I just asked was completely normal.
I return to my apartment after buying some more catnip (impulsively) from the pet store and a lovely dog bone for Shizu-chan. Before opening the door I hear the faint sound of Shizu-chan whining. He seems to be pacing around before approaching the door hastily. He opens the door and practically attacks me with a hug; his tail wagging fiercely. I hadn't even been gone for an hour and he's missed me this much?
"Sh-Shizu-chan wh-what are you doing?!" I ask as I blush.
"Shut up…" He says nervously. From where my head is on his shoulder I can feel the heat in his face and see that he's blushing up to his ears. I smile and ruffle his hair as I enjoy the warmth of this hug. He releases me and looks at me before putting his hands in his pockets. I then find myself becoming completely stunned by the sight of my living room all in chaos. "Oh…um…I was kind of getting bored after you were gone and…"
"It looks like a tornado came through here!"
"I don't think you should see the kitchen." He says shamelessly. I was aware of Shizu-chan's destructive nature, but I assumed that he only got that way if he was provoked. Turns out when he's lonely his dog instincts kick in and he's not in control of his actions even more so than when he's just full-blown angry. I sigh before sitting on my torn couch and then look around to find bits and pieces of things and then set my sights on a stain on the floor. I point at the stain and glare at him. "It's milk, I swear." He says as his ears twitch a bit. He begins scratching the back of his neck as he guiltily sits next to me.
"I'm going to close my eyes and pretend I didn't see anything…while you clean up all this mess. When I wake up, I expect this place to be spotless." I say as I close my eyes. He shifts next to me before getting up and beginning to clean up his mess. I hear a few curse words and mumbles here and there, even horrible crashes and falls, but for the most part it's relatively quiet. After a few moments Shizu-chan shakes me and says that "it'll have to be good enough for now". I open my eyes and see a few missed spots where Shizu-chan didn't even try cleaning. For one, some socks are still on my ceiling fan (I have no idea how they got there). Secondly, that stain is still on the carpet next to my desk. Papers are still on the floor and the stuffing from the pillows that were once neatly resting on my couches are scattered around everywhere. I sigh and nod before rubbing my temples. Such a slob Shizu-chan is.
"Your sisters were here a while ago, by the way." Shizu-chan says as he sits next to me and puts his feet on my coffee table. I sit up and quickly remove his feet before giving him a glare. "They wanted to spend some time with you I guess. I sent them away because they were being bothersome."
"I love you." I say as I run my fingers through my hair before collapsing on his lap.
"Huh…?"
"I'm just really happy that you got rid of them. That ship has already sailed." I say as I close my eyes.
"What ship?" Shizu-chan asks naïvely. I want to face palm myself, but I don't.
"Nothing. Forget it, protozoan." I say dully as I relax and let my ears flatten against my head. Shizu-chan puts his rough, but strong hand on my head and begins to pet me. I start purring comfortably. I turn my head and look at him with a smile. He lifts his hand and I paw it with my own playfully (though I know full well that I don't have a paw). He smiles as he allows me to play with his hand. After a couple seconds I find myself enjoying the feeling of Shizu-chan's fingers through my hair. His hands travel to my ears and play with them a little before they prick up and I get off of him hastily. "I rather you didn't do that…"
"You were the one making yourself comfortable on my lap."
"You were the one encouraging me!" I say as I turn to blush. Suddenly my computer makes a peculiar sound and I realize that I've just received an e-mail from a client so I head over and try to recompose myself. I'm supposed to be playing hard to get, so why am I sticking to Shizu-chan like glue?
Shizuo's POV
I swear he's acting weird today. I mean, he seemed to enjoying me touching him just a little while ago, but then all of sudden he got up and scolded me for holding him…I mean, it's not like I want to hold him…I mean I do, but I don't want him to know that. Yeah, I'm suppressing my urges. But now I'm putting two and two together; he's suppressing his urges as well. I know he likes me; I'm not being haughty right now, he's told me that he likes me. Heck, he even said "love" once; though it wasn't to my face I could tell he was telling the truth. His voice broke when he said it, as if he was gonna have a heart attack or something.
"Hmm…"
I turn my head and see Izaya fiddling with a ball of yarn at his desk. I get off the couch and then start to head over to him, but then something catches my eye. I look over to the bag on the floor and quickly lunge at it, scavenging through it before finally catching the tasty bone in my mouth. I chew on it for a few seconds before I feel something soft hit the side of my head. I turn towards Izaya who points at his ball of yarn on the floor, which he threw at my head, and tells me to get over here. I grab the small ball of yarn and do as I'm told, instinctively of course because I wouldn't be taking orders from Izaya otherwise.
"Since you're out of work right now Shizu-chan do you mind me using you for this small task?" Izaya asks with a smirk. I growl before looking at the bone in my hand. I place the bone on my shoulder as if it's a club and look at him skeptically.
"What kind of task?"
We look completely ridiculous. I'm pretty sure these jackets are from the 1950s and the shades are a bit much. I don't usually wear black shades. Izaya doesn't wear shades, period. We're at a coffee shop waiting for a guy who's gonna retrieve some info from Izaya but incognito because the cops are after this guy and his friends. So, Izaya and I are dressed up in these stupid get-ups so we're not recognized if stuff gets leaked out. The guy we're working with is sending this retrieval guy to get the info and also to give Izaya the cash, but we're gonna have to make it seem as if we're just meeting for some coffee like old friends.
How did I manage to get myself into this mess?
"Why do we have to wear these stupid jackets and shades?"
"Well, you don't want people to recognize us, do you? What if there's a rivaling gang out here who sees us interact with these guys. Then we'd be in trouble."
"This looks more suspicious. We stand out more than we usually do!" I say a bit too loudly. Neighboring customers look over for a moment before turning around after I glare at them through my shades. "We look like muggers."
"Correction: we look like 1950s muggers." He says with a smirk. "I guess the leather jackets were a bit much. Oh well."
"Where the hell did you get these anyway?"
"My sisters bought me two. A brown, the one you're wearing and a black, the one I'm wearing."
"I ain't color blind, louse."
"My, my you have to resort to using grammatically incorrect language, Shizu-chan? Didn't you know that 'ain't' isn't a word?" He says with a laugh. "Anyway, it shouldn't be long now. Ah there he is!" The guy Izaya waves to walks over to us casually as if he's some old high school buddy. He sits down and smiles before placing his folders on the table. "Nice to see you again Minato-san." Izaya says happily. The guy scoffs a little before smiling too.
"It's always a pleasure having to see you again, Izaya-kun." Seems like they're pretty familiar with each other. Somehow it pisses me off. "How've you been?"
"Good." Izaya says calmly.
"I heard from Yuki-san that you've been off work for a while. Something up?"
"Nah, just took a bit of a vacation. That's all. Why, were you worried about me~?"
"You could say that." He says with a smirk. I glare at Minato, as he's called, for about two minutes before he finally notices and clears his throat. "Who's your partner?"
"His 'partner' can speak, so why don't you ask me who I am, dipshit." Izaya steps on my foot.
"He's my own personal bodyguard." Izaya explains casually. "That way if you try to attack me you're dead meat."
"Ah, you don't trust me. I see." Minato laughs and then hands Izaya an envelope. "Here's the files you wanted." Izaya nods. Files? Wasn't he supposed to give him money?
"And here's your documents." Izaya says as he hands him a bunch of folders. "Good luck~" Minato nods and heads off after taking a sweet bread. I growl before he leaves and then take a long swig of my cocoa.
"What was up with that?" I ask him angrily. He looks at me curiously so I growl in frustration before continuing on. "You were flirting with that guy." I say angrily.
"No I wasn't. I was just being friendly." Izaya says as he drinks his coffee. "I'm a wiz at dealing with people in a casual environment, Shizu-chan. Some people I deal with do find me rather pleasant, sometimes even charming."
"I find that hard to believe. And besides, weren't we here to get your cash not files."
"Shizu-chan really has to learn how to speak code dialect. Of course if anyone said they were exchanging cash for something people would be suspicious. Use that thing in your head called a brain, Shizu-chan. If you were some guy trying to bomb a building would you say that you have a bomb in your suitcase before handing it to your partner to hide it in the said building?"
"You lost me at the 'if you were some guy trying to bomb a building'…" I say dully.
"Shizuo?" I suddenly hear a familiar voice say to the left of me. I turn my head and find Tom standing there. My tail becomes really wag-happy. I get up and hastily hug Tom as if he was my master who had gone off on vacation and just got back. "Ah…nice to see you too…" He says a bit awkwardly.
"Sorry…it's a new habit…" I say dully.
"Oh, have you replaced the smoking habit with the hugging habit?" Tom says with a laugh. He asks if he could sit down so I tell him to go ahead. I look over to Izaya, whom I almost forgot was sitting right there and glare at him, threatening him silently not to do anything sneaky or say anything unnecessary. He just smiles.
"I thought you were gonna be gone for a week." I say as I try to make my tail stop wagging.
"Well, I finished work early. I was gonna call you a couple hours ago to check up on you, but I decided not to since I thought you were taking a nap or something." Tom says with a smile. "So, you're hanging out with Izaya today?" Izaya's ears spring up from the sound of his name and twitch slightly.
"Uh…yeah…"
"So you two are finally getting along? That's kind of weird, but great. Maybe when you come back to work next Monday, you'll be able to stay focused even if he comes to Ikebukuro. That way you won't run off and abandon me every time he happens to come around." Izaya twitches his ears and takes a sip of his coffee. "So…how have you been Izaya-kun?"
"I can't complain." Izaya says casually. "It's nice to finally meet Shizu-chan's boss—or should I say master? OW!" I stepped on his foot furiously before he could say anything else. "Brute!"
"I see you two stay true to your roots." Tom says nervously. "Well, it's better than the usual vending machine fiascos. Or the stop signs…" That's my trademark though. "Anyway, I better get going. I'm meeting up with some friends in a little while. I'll let you guys enjoy your breakfast. See ya next Monday Shizuo." Tom says as he gets up and walks off. My ears twitch a bit as I see him off.
"First my tail and now my foot. Are you trying to break every bone in my body, protozoan?!" Izaya asks angrily.
"That's the plan, yes." I say as I look at him with an annoyed expression. He looks at me angrily before shaking his head.
"I'm glad I fell out of love with you. It would have been a horrible mistake to love such a monster." Izaya says as he finishes his coffee. I look at my cup of hot cocoa and suddenly feel upset, maybe even a little hurt by what he just said. I suddenly get angry and toss his pastry off his plate, the plate flying off with it. "What the heck is your problem?!"
"You're my problem!" I say as I grab the collar of his shirt. "Stop making me feel like an idiot!"
"What are you talking about? You don't need my help in doing that! You do fine by yourself." He says with a smirk. I suddenly get up, tossing the table to the side and grabbing him before sending him flying onto the street. Unfortunately the car that was about to crush him stopped just in time. I head over to him, but he's already on his feet. He takes out his knife and instead of trying to stab me with it, he jumps on the car that almost ran him over and makes a run for it. I chase after him, avoiding the passing cars as best that I can. I try tuning out the driver's screams and protests. Once they see who I am though, they stay silent.
Izaya is not too far away now. He's almost within reach. If I grab the hood of his stupid jacket then I can strangle the little flea. But why does this seem so familiar? The street, the time of day, everything seems so familiar. We've played this cat and mouse game for years, but why is it now that things feel as if I'm experiencing déjà vu? I suddenly stop as Izaya turns the corner. It's almost as if I'm reliving that time from high school; the first time I ever saw Izaya seem so shaken and close to crying.
I've had enough. I turn the corner and find that Izaya led himself into a dead end. I take this chance to fish the letter out of my pocket. I lift it up and call the flea's name to get his attention. When he turns around and spots the letter he seems shocked; I'm positive he recognizes it because he immediately walks towards me. He glares at me before pulling his knife on me.
"Give me that back." He says menacingly.
"Not until you tell me why you didn't give it to me." I say sternly.
"You read it?!" He asks as a blush creeps onto his face. I nod simply before looking at him sternly, waiting for him to answer me. "Why do you care anyway?" He says solemnly. He tries to mask his depression by smirking and laughing at me like always while spinning his knife around nonchalantly.
"I care because…" I look at the floor before holding the letter tightly. "If I had known…"
"If you would have known you wouldn't have told me you felt the same way. I confessed to you recently and got rejected by you. The same thing would have happened then." He says angrily.
"I only rejected you because…I don't want to feel this way about you…damn flea!" He suddenly looks at me with surprise as he lowers his knife.
"W-what?" Izaya asks as looks at me as if I said something otherworldly. "What are you talking about, Shizu-chan?"
"I'm not sure what I'm saying…" I say as I run my fingers through my hair. "Look, just tell me why you never gave me the fucking letter."
"First of all, it's not a 'fucking letter'. And secondly, I won't tell you why unless you tell me what you meant." Izaya says sternly. I get a bit irritated so I walk up to him, already ready to tear him to pieces but instead I grab a hold of his arms and glare at him a second.
"I don't hate you okay?! Are you happy?!" I finally saying, feeling kind of relieved that that weight is off my shoulders. Unfortunately, it's not over with just these words. "I didn't want to reject you. I just said that to avoid confronting my damn feelings." I pause and sigh. "I like you...you damn flea. I mean…I thought if I didn't say anything then I'd get over it or maybe the feelings would go away." Izaya gives me a faint smile.
"If it didn't work for me, it certainly wasn't going to for you, Shizu-chan." He says with a laugh. "I figured just as much. You seemed a bit too affectionate to just want to be friends." Izaya says with a smile. "So…how long have you felt this way towards me?" I glare at him before growling lowly at him. I turn my face to the side, avoiding eye contact with him for a moment before he pokes me with his knife.
"Don't do that, fucking flea!" I say as I grab the knife aggressively and toss it somewhere behind me.
"OW!" Someone says from behind me.
"Oh shit!" I say as I turn my head and look at who I might have hit.
"Oh hey look, a free knife!" Well, I guess they weren't hit by the slicing part of the knife…Damn lucky.
"You owe me a new one. Some hobo took my knife." Izaya says angrily.
"The hobo needs it more than you. Knife happy maniac."
"That hobo is probably gonna turn into a serial killer because of you."
"So? Who the hell cares about cereal boxes?"
"Oh my god…" Izaya says in disbelief. He puts his hand to his face and shakes his head slowly. "Please don't tell me…you're…oh god…"
"What?" I ask angrily.
"Look…" Izaya says. "If your feelings for me are only because you're pitying me then I'd rather you hate me. I don't like to be pitied. I know Shinra must have told you about what I went through during high school. And since you read the letter…I don't want to accept those kind of feelings."
"I liked you during high school too, flea." I say with annoyance. "That's why I said to you that you pissed me off when we first met." I confess with a sigh. "I mean at first I thought it was because you seemed like you gave off that kind of prick kind of vibe, but now that I think about it…I really didn't like the way you made me feel. I got mad at myself for liking you I guess. And even when we fought I still found myself…wanting to be near you…wanting to chase you…"
Izaya looks at the floor for a moment before reaching for the letter. I allow him to take it since it is his after all…He opens it up and examines it for a few seconds before sighing.
"So after saying that you like me, what do you expect me to do?" Izaya asks with a glare. "If you had feelings for me all this time why didn't you just say so? If you were asking me why I didn't say anything years ago, shouldn't I be able to ask you the same thing?"
"I didn't know exactly what I was feeling before." I say honestly. "Look, I know that I was being an ass for rejecting you when I just wanted to ignore any feelings I have for you…wanted to ignore your feelings…but…I'm listening now, so can you at least tell me why you didn't give me the letter? Maybe if you had given me the letter when we were in high school all this shit wouldn't have happened between us."
"Oh really?" Izaya asks skeptically. "Fine, I'll tell you what had prevented me from giving you the letter, but don't think that listening to me now will change what you did." I nod in understanding as he looks at the letter once more before beginning his story. "It was after gym class…you were changing out of your gym clothes and…"
"You were watching me?" I ask with annoyance.
"NO!" He says as he hides a blush. "Let me continue…"
A/N: So who believed the animal blood story at the beginning? And who thought that that reason was kind of fishy about the animal blood? XD The revealing of the letter flashback will be in the next chapter, both of their POVs. See you Sunday! Sorry for the cliffhanger. I thought the chapter would get too long :\ Besides I wanted to keep the flashbacks seperate from this chapter :D PLEASE REVIEW!