Arc Two, Chapter One

The first thing Izaya noticed was the oxygen mask on his face and the wires hanging off of his body. He jolted awake and sat up on the bed, ripping the mask off of his mouth. "What..." He looked around the unfamiliar room. This wasn't good. He hated feeling lost and out of control. "Where am I?" He felt his own face and ran a hand through his hair. The doctor who sat beside him tried to hold him down, while asking him a bunch of questions. "I'm fine...but who are you?"

Shinra blinked, "well, at least you didn't go into a coma, but what do you mean? I'm Shinra, no need to joke about that." He stared at his best friend's face more clearly. Shinra knew when he was kidding, but he actually seemed serious. "Wasn't expecting you to loss you memory. Maybe a personality difference, but not this." He sighed. "I'm Shinra; you normally come to me when you need a doctor." He went to fetch Celty. "And this is my lovely Celty, she helped you to get the nasty evil spirit out from your soul."

"What is that?!" Izaya yelled and gripped the sheets of the bed, staring at the headless woman. "She did what to me?" His heart raced at the sight of the paranormal thing, and after a moment he realized Shinra asked him a question. "My name's Izaya Orihara, but that's all I know." What was going on? Did Celty erase his memory? Izaya felt light headed, like passing out. The alien-looking woman and the evil doctor must have abducted him.

"This is Celty, she is a dullahan, an Irish mythical creature. My love is so nice and lovely, she would never hurt anyone," he said, all gaga over her. [You wanted me to remove the spirit,] she typed out for Izaya, "and we told you risks, but you still wanted it. Do you even remember where you live? Do you know that you have twin sisters? Or do you just know you name?"

A dulla-what-han? Izaya wondered; he'd have to look that up later. Either way, the mythical creature was very real and very alive. He looked at what she typed on her PDA. All this was too much information. He had twin sisters? Just trying to remember gave him a headache. He hoped that he'd regain his memories soon. "I just remember my name." He answered, and looked at the two. "So in other words...I lost my memory because you removed the spirit? What was it?"

[The spirit of Lust, one of the seven deadly sins. It had this sort of attraction to...your friend.] Celty typed. Shinra held up a hand before pulling Celty out so the two could talk. If Izaya couldn't remember anything, someone had to take care of him. Celty couldn't, Izaya was scared of looking at her, and Shinra couldn't because he was too busy at times (and not strong enough). They started going through the list of names before Celty finally told Shinra that Shizuo would be more willing to take care of Izaya until he returned to normal. At first the doctor wasn't too thrilled about the idea until she explained more. Shinra called Shizuo quietly and walked back in the room. "Izaya, since you don't remember much, we're going to have someone take care of you. We've known him for over ten years and Celty convinced me that he'll be the best person for the job." The headless rider held up a picture of the blonde, typing out, [he might look like a brute, but he's one of the nicest in this town.]

So, the seven deadly sins were real, a dullahan was real, and Lust was inside of him...what next? He sat on the bed dumbfounded, and began unhooking the wires that attached to himself. What was going to happen to him, why couldn't remember anything? It bothered him to not know information. He felt like he had to know every single detail about everything. He wished that he was in a coma, rather than suffering from memory loss. He was forced to put his trust in strangers, who supposedly knew everything about him. How did Izaya know they weren't mass murderers? "Hold on a minute. I am more than capable of taking care of myself, even if I don't remember anything."

"You don't even know where you live," Shinra told him bluntly. "Shizuo can house you and show you around, so you don't get lost. We'd rather you stay with someone until you get better, we don't want anything bad to happen," he added. He guessed Izaya will get into some sort of mess if someone wasn't watching him. He knew how many people hated him.

The ex-bartender grumbled as he walked to Shinra's place. It would have been easier if the flea went into a coma...but no, he had to lose his memory. Now Shinra asked him to take care of the louse. Everything just didn't go his way. Oh well, since Izaya lost his memory, he wouldn't be trolling him when he stayed at his place. The blonde knocked on the door, walking in when the headless rider opened the door. He was lead to a room and looked inside, looking at Izaya with. He had this whole thing set up in his mind, still wanting to yell at him and shit, still call him flea, but he tossed that aside when he saw the innocent look in his auburn eyes. "Izaya, can you stand?" The bartender asked.

Izaya didn't argue with the two any longer. Obviously, he was forced to stay at this guy's house against his will. He looked pretty strong, too. He felt like he was someone's child that needed babysitting. Even if Shinra's words were true, he still believed that he could take care of himself. If the blonde man did anything even remotely disturbing; he'd run within a blink of an eye. He hoped that he wasn't some sort of drug dealer or anything. Izaya changed into his clothes that Shinra said he washed for him, which were surprisingly comfortable and the fur jacket became his favourite item instantly. "Of course I can stand." He stood up off the bed. "Um...I hope you don't mind..."

Shizuo rolled his eyes, "I don't mind, just as long as you clean up after yourself. You've stayed over a couple times in the past, it's nothing new, just something strange." The blonde searched his pockets, handing Izaya a key. "Made an extra for you, I already brought over a good bit of your clothes and laptop, I didn't see anything else that I thought you needed. You already had your wallet on you," he added. The blonde stood there, looking down to the smaller man. He felt a bit uncomfortable and couldn't help but mess with the lighter in his hand, to keep him busy with. "Um," he sounded, not sure what to do. He blushed some and quickly looked away. "Um, I have a little kitten, her name is Suki, last you were over, she liked you. So, you can play with her, she'd like that."

Izaya searched his own pockets. He found a wallet along with...a switchblade? Why did he carry that around? "Okay! I look forward to meeting her." There was definitely something that Shizuo was hiding. He'd find out sooner or later. Izaya could sense the hostility in his voice. Did he act like that with everyone, or just him?

"Come on, I'll you to my place," he offered and headed on out after Izaya was ready to leave. On the way back, they stopped by Russia Sushi and ordered take-out. The blonde had to explain to Izaya who the loud Russian was. "Huh? How did I know what you liked?" The blonde repeated, "well, you always order fatty tuna. It would be pretty sad if I didn't know that much, for having known you since high school." They walked towards his apartment, making sure Izaya was paying attention to the landmarks. He opened the front door, showing a pretty simple place. "I know if might seem odd but I have a large enough bed to hold a few people, so hopefully you don't mind sharing the bed." He looked down, hearing bells and he picked up the little kitten, handing her over to Izaya. "I've had her for about two years, she's as big as she's about to get. I found her hurt and sick in an alley, so I took care of her and that's how I got her."

Izaya soaked in all the information about Ikebukuro. He wondered if he had his own place there. Living with someone like Shizuo may have been fun, not to mention there was free food. Who could argue with that? Some people gave Izaya weird looks, others stayed away from him, and occasionally some looked scared. Was he famous or something? "No, I don't mind sleeping in the same bed." Izaya took the kitten and ran his fingers down her white fur. "I was wondering, have you noticed that people keep looking at me? Why is that?"

"Don't worry about it right now. You have no reason to be taking in that sort of information right now. You were already having an overload when Celty asked you all those questions," he ruffled up Izaya's dark hair and kicked the door shut. He lead the info broker to the bedroom, showing him the queen sized bed and he gently hit the box on the floor. "That would be your clothes and the laptop on the table is yours. I do have internet here, but not basic cable. I have a bunch stuff you can watch, like movies, animes, TV series, and Netflix and all that stuff. Have it set up so you can stream it with the use of the TV." Red eyes turned to look to him, as if he wanted to ask something. "Yeah? If you have any questions, just ask." He raised a brow when Izaya asked why he had no basic cable. "The news on TV pisses me off."" His hazel eyes watched Izaya as he walked over to the bed, sitting on the smooth covers. "So, you only remember your name? Do you know basic stuff, like cooking?"

Izaya sighed inwardly. He guessed Shizuo was right. He should have taken it one step at a time, but he wanted to know everything at once. "Oh? Why do you hate the news? Learning about people is fun!" The bed was definitely big enough to fit them both. He noticed a few broken items and holes in Shizuo's apartment, but didn't bother to ask about it. "Yeah, it's weird. I mean, I know basic knowledge and my name but that is it."

"People piss me off, simple as that. They do stupid shit and they put it on the news, so I don't bother with it. I just worry about my own life in this town, I don't need added stress to it." Izaya nodded and asked him if he wanted to play the question game. "Sure, ask me questions if you want, but I'm not staying in here. I need to feed my cat." He left the bedroom and to the kitchen, getting a can of cat food. The kitten came to him, hearing the can open and he emptied it into a bowl for her before setting it down.

The raven followed Shizuo to the kitchen. Shinra said that Shizuo was the nicest man in town. He had a feeling that wasn't exactly true. "Are you a bartender?" He asked right off the bat. "Or maybe you're a butler?" He sat down on a chair in the kitchen. Shizuo really cared for the cat, he wondered if he had any pets of his own.

"I'm a debt collector," he informed. "I have to go shopping when I come back from work tomorrow, or I can just let you do it. I'll write out a list of things to pick up and you can pick anything else you want. I'm just hoping you'll be alright with my cooking." He started the coffee maker and sat down, waiting for the coffee to finish. "You remember how you like your coffee?" Izaya answered him, not even knowing he liked coffee. "You like coffee, straight black, you like the bitter taste of it." He poured the fresh coffee into two mugs, adding milk to his own before handing Izaya his. He wrote down a list of what to buy. "You keep looking at me as if you don't like being here. Would you rather you stay without someone else?"

Izaya tried the coffee, liking the bitter taste. Shizuo was right, he really did like the taste of it, and the caffeine helped with his headache. He set down his coffee on the counter, and blinked at Shizuo. "It's not that. I have so many questions but I could go on all day. You know, Shizuo, the whole point of the question game is to ask me questions too." He looked down at what Shizuo was writing out of curiosity. "Is ootoro added to that list?"

"Huh? Oh, ootoro isn't something you can store buy; Simon is the only guy that can make it. I can pick up some on the way home. Ask you questions? You don't remember anything, so not like I can ask you about yourself..."

Izaya found a cell phone in his pocket, and browsed through his text messages. He left a few memos to himself, explaining that it was a new cell phone since Shizuo broke his old one. He wasn't going to text anyone back; he just hoped that they knew he would be gone for a while (and possibly forever). The thought terrified him. "Why are people asking me for information..."

"It's your job, you're an info broker. When people want information, they come to you. But Namie told me you told everyone you'll be gone for a while. Oh, Namie is this woman that does your paperwork. From what you've told me before, you view her as a house wife, not as a friend or anything." He rested his head in his hand, drinking his coffee. "Next question, hum...would you like me to show you to your place?"

Izaya guessed that being an informant was a hard job, but he figured he would choose a job that revolved around humans. He could already tell that he enjoyed observing and studying human behaviour. "Oh yes! I'd like to see it, and Namie."

"Yeah, she doesn't like you, just a fair warning. You're an awful boss," he informed, not even sugar coating it. He finished his coffee, standing up to put it in the dish washer. "But we can go on my day off, that'll be in a couple of days. We could do it today, but I'm not in the mood to ride the train right now."

Izaya nodded. Was he really a horrible boss? Izaya also finished his coffee and set it in the dishwasher. "That's fine, I'm tired anyways. Now it's my turn! What did you think about me, before I lost my memories?" He raised a brow. He saw that Shizuo was a very brutally honest man so he should've had no problem answering the question.

The blonde stiffened at the question Izaya just asked him. "We're, uh...neutral friends. Regardless, we've known each other since freshmen year of high school. You've known Shinra since middle school. He would take care of you but he gets busy with work. But…I…hum," he looked away, blushing, making sure Izaya didn't see. "Well, I'm tired and I have to meet my boss early, 6AM is my start for work."

Yeah, Shizuo was hiding something. He was positive now. It was entertaining to watch the blonde struggle with his words. He could tell he was being soft on him, since he lost his memories. He'd rather have the painful truth, he could take it. "Ahhh, alright. Long day for us both, huh, Shizuo-kun?"

The blonde flinched at the name, but he didn't know why. He hated that fucking nickname Izaya always called him. "You called me Shizu-chan," he corrected, hoping Izaya would use that nickname from now on. He watched Izaya tilt his head. "Some girl in high school called me Shizuo-chan and you thought I was a girl until someone explained it to you. You just sort of started to call me Shizu-chan."

The raven haired male laughed at the nickname he gave to Shizuo, after Izaya thought he was a girl. "Right then, Shizu-chan. Don't you hate being called by the nickname though? I mean, it's used for children and women." The blonde was very masculine, he couldn't imagine Shizuo actually liking the nickname...but here he was, asking him to call him that. "Eh, well…you're the only one that called me that. I think you just stuck with it because of my taste of food," he explained as he climbed into bed and turned the light off, falling asleep without saying much more. Izaya grabbed pajamas out of his box, which were shorts and an over-sized gray t-shirt. He changed in the bathroom and fell asleep on the bed, breathing in Shizuo's comforting scent.

Responses to reviews:

kokochi: I love editing and it is easy when I receive a whole bunch of awesome reviews. They keep me motivated. See, the chapters are already finished, I just need to edit them. This wouldn't be much of a story if chapters didn't keep you guessing, right? :)

Rai Rai Blue: I usually do pay attention in class, multitasking is fun. :D And thanks for your feedback! I fixed the last chapter so hopefully it answers your confusion, although this chapter would anyways.

mikasiam71192 & Shadow Pain: I am glad you two like the story so much!

You all have tons of chapters to look forward to. This begins arc two because it is a new plot line, since Lust has left Izaya's body. This is the longest story I have ever made, mostly because it is a 50% collaboration with VataRaven. She plays an amazing Shizu-chan, yes?

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