A/N: This chapter can go three ways: it either answers a lot of the questions you might have, or it leaves you with even more questions to ponder about, or it does both at the same time. But not to worry! Next chapter will be a explanation-heavy chapter (while still leaving quite a lot of blanks, of course) so do look forward to it if you're hoping to get some answers ;)

Thank you all so much for the support and love for this story.

April 26, 2013

"Dammit, where did that stupid flea go?"

Shizuo snarled under his breath, running up the stairs.

He had been doing that for the past few minutes. At some point, he had stopped the call with Shinra, after he saw that there hadn't been any changes and heard nothing on the doctor's end. Sunshine 60 was ridiculously tall, he had realised from this, but throughout it all, he never stopped. What was even more ridiculous, though, was that the flea could somehow be faster than him. It made Shizuo wonder and doubt he was even there anymore.

But something told him - gut instinct, maybe; Shinra always complimented him about it - that the flea was still around. That the flea was trying to lead him somewhere. Shizuo didn't know if it was a trap or whatever, but if it was Izaya, then Shizuo couldn't just turn a blind eye to it when it could mean trouble for his hometown.

And so Shizuo ran, trying to chase after the non-existent trail of the informant.

Until finally, the door leading to the rooftop entered his line of vision.

With a slam, Shizuo knocked the door open. It struck the wall with a piercing clang, forcing an unsightly dent in it. While catching his breath, Shizuo glanced around the rooftop, but only saw an empty stretch of tiles that had turned midnight blue from the descent of the sun, reflecting the glow of the full moon hanging over him.

"...Ugh, dammit...!"

Shizuo punched the door with no hesitance.

It had to be a hallucination. A hallucination on his part.

There was no way Izaya could slip away just like that, no matter how fast he was. Heck, wasn't he bedridden for a week? There was just no way someone who had been lying in bed for that long to be able to up and dash and perform freakin' parkour as if nothing had happened.

The blond growled in frustration.

"Well, well, you sure did a good job. Making all the way up here like that."

'...What?'

Shizuo looked around him.

"But of course, to say that I'm impressed would be an insult, to both you and myself. Shizu-chan is a monster after all, so I shouldn't be complimenting you on something you ought to be capable of."

Shizuo stiffened.

"That voice..."

"Oh, you finally recognise me? I'm hurt. I thought you would've recognised me from the very beginning."

The voice was coming from Shizuo's right.

Shizuo turned, and then-

"Where are you looking? I'm right here!" came the playful chirp at his left.

Shizuo turned again, and found nobody there.

"Come on, you can do better than that. What happened to that nose of yours? Too distracted by my lovely voice to sniff me out like you always do?"

"Shut the hell up and show yourself!" the former bartender snapped. But as he continued glancing around, he slowly came to a stop, his eyes widening slightly. The other presence's questions repeated themselves in his mind until he realised what was wrong exactly.

That being the fact that he couldn't smell anything.

Correction - he could smell. His nose was working fine. What he couldn't smell, and what he had just realised about it, was Izaya.

Even when he stopped to gather himself and took a deep breath, there was nothing indicative of the flea's presence. The air smelled clean and cold, the usual air of a late spring night, like a passive breath while in an air-conditioned room. There was no foul smell, no overwhelming stench that Shizuo had expected especially since Izaya had to be somewhere near him. Nothing characteristic of the flea other than his voice.

Just like all the other times he heard the flea calling his name for the past week.

"Damn, I must really be going crazy," Shizuo grumbled, grabbing a fistful of his own hair and closing his eyes shut.

"Aww, don't be so quick to jump to conclusions," said the voice that Shizuo now believed to be a fragment of his imagination. It sounded so near it was as if Izaya was right in front of him.

"Just shut up and go away."

"As much as he might be 'happy' to oblige, I'm not about to leave anytime soon." The voice sounded even nearer now; Shizuo could almost feel - imagine? - something unnaturally cold brush past his cheek and stop right next to his ear. "After all, all my effort for the week would go down the drain, and I can't have that. Ne?"

"I don't care. Just go and leave-" Shizuo paused.

As if sensing something was amiss, his eyes snapped open as his arm fell back to his side. He took in a sharp breath.

There, standing before him, was none other than Orihara Izaya.

He was dressed in his usual apparel, just like the illusion Shizuo thought he had been chasing. The only difference being that the Izaya he was seeing had pulled the hood of the coat over his head, a rare sight even over the years Shizuo had known him. He was probably trying to hide something, Shizuo figured, but what exactly it was remained a mystery.

Shizuo let out the breath he had been holding. The Izaya standing in front of him simply watched, as if in anticipation. Neither said anything until Shizuo gathered his thoughts and decided on the first thing to ask this imposter:

"You're that Shadow I've been hearing about. Right?"

The hooded Izaya stared, crimson eyes widening slightly before he let out an amused chuckle that sounded all too familiar to Shizuo's ears.

"Oh, this is a surprise! A pleasant, pleasant surprise," the man with Izaya's appearance exclaimed, his voice turning more and more distorted as the snicker turned into uncontrolled laughter with drunken enjoyment. "Shizu-chan's so much sharper than I expected! Oh, I can't wait until he hears of this! Would the shock snap him awake, I wonder?"

"...I take that as a 'yes', then."

The Shadow regained his composure, though the twisted smile never left his face. His eyes were now blazing with sickly yellow. "My, did you just trap me into answering that? I have to say, though, it really is a surprise. I knew you had been told of the Forest and its inhabitants but I didn't think you'd make the connection that easily."

"Cut the crap. Why are you here? I thought things like you can't make it out here on your own." Shizuo remembered that fact very clearly because Shinra once moaned and moaned about not being able to experiment on the Shadow creatures since they couldn't leave their world; it was almost impossible to forget how annoying he was that day.

"Well, you're not wrong. In fact, you're perfectly right." The yellow-eyed Izaya spread his arms out and twirled on his feet. "But as you can see, I'm right here in the human world. And the me that was in the Forest-" his eyes flashed at the mention of the TV world, "-and the me that was at Shinra's-" he paused to gesture towards himself, "-is not."

He stopped spinning, casting Shizuo a sly look. "Do you see where I'm going with this?"

If he had to be perfectly frank, Shizuo had no inkling what the flea's Shadow was trying to imply. He didn't let that show on his face, however, and simply kept his glare on the Izaya-copy.

The Shadow gave an exaggerated sigh, yet another trait he shared with the flea. "And here I thought your Neanderthal brain is finally showing signs of development. Must you disappoint me so?"

Shizuo clenched his fists, not because he was offended by the insult, but because the Shadow reminded Shizuo so much of Izaya that the blond was instinctively getting himself geared up for a punch at his face.

Even their insults were exactly the same, bloody hell.

"Since you obviously have no idea, I'll humour you. In return for the entertainment you gave me earlier." The Shadow tossed him a suggestive wink. "Ah, but I'm going to have to trouble you to keep it to yourself, ne? I can't have you revealing all my secrets and having those kids meddle with my plans again. Especially not when I've waited so long for this moment."

'A week is long?' Shizuo nearly scoffed at that. Instead, he said, "Dream on. Why should I help you with something like that? All the stuff that's been happening is really getting on my nerves, and if you're the cause of it, then the sooner they get rid of you, the better. I don't give a damn about how you're doing this or what exactly happened to you or Izaya or whatever. I just want you gone. Got it?"

In the midst of his retort, Shizuo took the chance to glance at his surroundings, hoping he could catch a glimpse or at least a hint of Shinra and Celty's arrival at the scene, but couldn't find anything indicating their presence. 'What the hell's taking them so long...?!'

The Shadow regarded Shizuo with a cold glare before it quickly melted into a look of resignation. "Oh dear, this won't do at all. Knowing you, you wouldn't ever accept my terms, no matter how hard I try to convince you." He shook his head, acting disappointed. "In that case, I'll just have to use some other way to thank you. It's only common courtesy, after all."

"Thanks but no thanks," Shizuo declined the offer without hesitation. Anything from the flea could never be good. And if this was some manifestation of the flea's darker feelings he was dealing with, then it could only be so much worse.

As if he had read his mind, Izaya's Shadow smirked. "Now don't be like that. It's not like I'm going to use this to my advantage or anything. I just want to thank you."

The way he had said that sent the alarm bells in Shizuo's mind ringing. His instincts were starting to flare up, yelling at him to get away from the yellow-eyed Izaya. Shizuo could feel his heart racing, his skin tingling with goose bumps, his muscles twitching with the urge to move and run and never ever return.

What was this weird yet familiar feeling? It could only be the stupid adrenaline rush that he felt whenever he got pissed off, but whenever that happened, it was to chase and beat up whoever offended him.

So why was he feeling this way? Why was he suddenly feeling so desperate to leave when he had been relatively calm up until now?

Shizuo didn't know, neither did he understand. All he did know, was that the flea's Shadow was definitely planning something. Something that involved him. And that if he didn't get away soon, the Shadow might accomplish what he came for and put Ikebukuro at risk.

Never before had an attempt at a display of gratitude seemed so threatening.

But he couldn't just leave. It would be too suspicious. And besides, what if Shinra and Celty turned up after he was gone? Not that Shizuo doubted Shinra and Celty's abilities, but there was the possibility that the Shadow could just disguise himself as the regular flea and trick them if he wasn't around to see through the lies.

The Izaya-copy tilted his head curiously. "Hmm? What's the matter, Shizu-chan? You've suddenly gone all quiet."

"...Shut up."

Shizuo quickly turned his head away, effectively avoiding the probing golden gaze of the Shadow before him as he stared at the roads below.

"Izaya" seemed taken aback by the change in demeanour, but eventually smiled all the same, as if he had expected this to happen. Shizuo's suspicions were confirmed when the fake flea changed tactics and dove straight to the point:

"You're waiting for Shinra and Celty to turn up, aren't you?"

Shizuo immediately turned and faced him. "Wha... How the hell did you-"

"It was pretty obvious, you know. In fact I was anticipating it. If you had seen me, the first person you would contact would be Shinra, since I was supposed to have been at his apartment. So, of course, after confirming that the me there was gone, the next move Shinra would make would be to come and find me. That person wouldn't miss any chance of making some breakthrough in his supernatural studies, after all."

"...In other words, you planned this."

"I wouldn't say that. I just let you see me. Whatever happened after that was completely your doing."

That was exactly what Izaya would say. Which only served to infuriate Shizuo even further.

"You bastard... What the hell did you do to them?!"

"Well," the Shadow replied, shrugging casually, "let's just say they ran into some interesting troubles, shall we?"

Shizuo snarled and dashed towards him, grabbing "Izaya" by the collar of his coat. Screw running away, he ought to be beating this bastard senseless instead.

"Oh my. Are you angry?"

"Do you even need to ask?!"

The Shadow's eyes glinted as he laughed. "I guess not. But since I made you so angry, that means I owe you more than just a simple thank you now. Now let's see, how shall I make it up to you..."

"You can make it up to me by letting me beat the shit outta you."

"Well, that's a viable option, but don't you always do that without my consent anyway?"

"That's what I do to the real flea. Not you. So that doesn't count."

The Shadow's eyes narrowed. "The 'real flea', you say..." he murmured, voice dropping to a dangerously low pitch. "I thought Shizu-chan was more well-informed about the nature of my existence than this. How terribly disappointing."

Shizuo's anger did not subside in the least despite noticing the change in the Shadow's disposition. "Yeah? And what of it?" His grip on the hooded man's coat tightened. "That's what you really are, aren't you? Just some part of the flea that he doesn't wanna admit? Doesn't that make you only that one part of him?"

The Shadow chuckled darkly. "Well well, I can't say you're wrong in that aspect. But aren't you forgetting something about what you just said? Or rather, have you even realised the implications behind it?"

"I don't really care. The only thing that matters now is that you put Shinra and Celty in danger. And I'm gonna make you pay for that."

With that said, Shizuo raised a clenched fist and swiftly brought it down, making sure to aim right in the middle of the Shadow's face.

Only for the intended receiver of the attack to stop it in its path with a flicked open switchblade.

"What the-"

"Shizu-chan really doesn't know what he's getting himself into, does he."

Without giving Shizuo time to register what had happened, the Shadow effortlessly pushed the fist away and spun on his feet, lifting the fortissimo of Ikebukuro, who was still gripping onto the coat with one hand, off the ground as though he were a silk scarf blowing in the wind.

Then the golden-eyed man skipped into the air and delivered a fast kick into Shizuo's chest, sending the blond diving straight into the tiles of the rooftop. A dent was formed from the force of the impact, leaving cracks across the surface of the roof of the building.

Shizuo panted, staring at the full moon in night sky above.

'What the hell was all that?' He held a hand over where the Shadow's kick had landed and pressed lightly against it. He regretted it soon after when the sharp pain radiated across his entire ribcage.

'Wait.' He blinked. 'That...hurt?'

Shizuo held his breath.

But it wasn't possible...was it?

He had grown so used to his entire body being torn apart as a kid that even things like gunshots were but an itch to him now. There was just no way a little kick could actually make him feel real pain...was there?

The blond pressed against his chest again and confirmed the existence of the piercing sensation that resulted.

"What the hell... This doesn't-"

"-make any sense? Of course it doesn't. Nothing ever does to a protozoan like you."

Shizuo raised his head from the ground. The image of a yellow-eyed Izaya exuding a shadowy aura with one hand on his hip approached him.

Ignoring the protests of his damaged ribs, the former bartender pushed himself to his feet, giving his attacker the fiercest glare he could muster.

"...What did you just do to me?"

"Why should I bother explaining that to you when you won't bother to understand it in the first place?" the Shadow replied icily, moving closer and closer towards him. "You know, I didn't come here to waste my time on you, but you took me aback at first, so I thought it might be fun to play around with you a little. But in the end, you only keep disappointing me. It's a pity, really. For a moment, you almost proved you could be as entertaining as those kids I played with, especially that one with the grey hair."

The hooded man said all this with his usual smile completely wiped off his face. His eyes flashed continuously as if to accentuate his displeasure, and his tone carried a certain sharpness that could send a piercing chill down an unsuspecting person's spine. As he kept closing the distance between himself and Shizuo, the blond could feel the ferocity of the shadowy aura slowly wrapping itself around him - a sort of emotional weight forcing itself onto him.

'...Oh,' Shizuo realised, 'he's angry.'

And that made all the difference because Izaya, to his knowledge, never got angry.

Or, to be more accurate, even if he did, he wouldn't show it. That would be going against his own character. The flea was so good at hiding things from other people that it was near impossible to be able to tell what he was thinking or feeling. The only person who could - that Shizuo knew of - was Shinra, but Izaya could hide even from him sometimes.

But this Izaya before him was showing none of that. In fact he was being the complete opposite. He was wearing his heart on his sleeve, as if wanting Shizuo to know that he was clearly very upset with him. And it was so open and honest and raw that, for just a brief moment, Shizuo thought he was dealing with some kind of bloodthirsty stranger who didn't hesitate to make his killing intent known.

'Are all Shadows like this?' Shizuo wondered, trying not to let the emotional weight of the aura overwhelm him. The immense hatred emanating from the flea's Shadow was growing stronger with every second.

"So you're finally beginning to understand," the golden-eyed copy of Izaya said, as if he had read Shizuo's mind. He didn't sound any less displeased, however, and continued inching closer and closer towards the blond until his shoes met Shizuo's. "Unfortunately, I don't intend to stick around to toy with you any longer. I've wasted enough time as it is, no thanks to the likes of a Neanderthal like you."

Then the Shadow slowly raised his head, shooting Shizuo a piercing gaze through the darkness of his hood as the edges of his lips curled into a cunning smile. "So don't you think you should repay me by helping me achieve what I came here to do?"

Before Shizuo could react, "Izaya" grabbed his wrists and pinned him to the wall before diving in swiftly to capture Shizuo's lips.

The fortissimo of Ikebukuro could do nothing to fight back.

It was as though the physical contact had drained his strength the moment their lips met. Sucked him dry of the will and power to resist and stop the Shadow from whatever he was doing.

Not only that.

What was even stranger and even more disturbing, was that Shizuo felt nothing about the whole thing.

No thoughts ran through his mind. No bursts of rage and fury ran through his body.

His entire being was calm, his mind was completely whited out.

There was nothing.

And then suddenly, there was everything.

Images that Shizuo didn't recognise flashed before his eyes like watching a series of blurred memories that didn't belong to him. A myriad of voices brushed past his ears, whispering and shouting and laughing nonsense to him. A surge of emotions and feelings coursed through his veins; a rush so intense that it was electrifying. It was suffocating.

Shizuo could feel himself drowning in the sensation, slowly but surely losing to whatever it was that was suffocating him.

Right before he was about to get swallowed, a clear and familiar voice somehow found its way to reach him.

"Shizuo-kun!"

That voice had cried out.

Immediately after, the cacophony zapped out of existence.

As his own thoughts gradually returned to him, Shizuo could feel his body sliding down the wall, meeting the cool floor. His vision started to sharpen, rinsing itself of the images that Shizuo had seen.

Standing not too far away from him was someone in a white coat and pants with dark hair, his arms outstretched. Shinra was the first person who came to mind, but since when did Shinra's coat have a hood? And where was Celty? And the-

"You know the consequences," the cold and calculating voice that Shizuo recognised as the Shadow's had sneered. "You, of all people, should know all too well. And yet you're out here when you should just be watching from a distance."

The person whom Shizuo had thought to be Shinra shook his head. "It's precisely because I know that I chose to do this."

Shizuo blinked. It was the same voice that had found its way to him just now but it clearly wasn't Shinra's. For some reason, though, it was oddly familiar, but Shizuo couldn't identify it.

The Shadow's cackle interrupted Shizuo's train of thought. "You 'chose' to do this, you say? Do you honestly, truly, wholeheartedly believe that? Believe that your every decision, every thought, came from you and not somebody else?"

The person in the white coat seemed to waver at that, but tried to compose himself. "It...it doesn't matter. A-all that does is that you stop this right now before it's all too late!"

"It is too late. Don't you see that?" the Shadow replied. "That's why I decided: why fight it when we knew it was inevitable? Why not help it along? It's not like dragging things on and pretending it doesn't exist will get rid of it, so why bother?"

The unknown figure fell silent. His outstretched arms fell limply to his sides as he hung his head low, trembling slightly.

"But it's not right," he said quietly. "Involving Shizuo-kun like this is not right."

'Involving...me?' Shizuo frowned in confusion.

The Shadow sighed. "You know as well as I do that the protozoan would get involved sooner or later. I'm just speeding up the process. Like a catalyst, as you might say. What's so wrong about achieving the outcome now when it's going to be the same in the end?"

"I...I still can't let you-"

"Well then, I'm sorry to say, but I've already accomplished what I came to do. Most of it anyway. So unless you can wind back time, that Neanderthal is now involved, whether anyone likes it or not."

The man in the white coat fell silent once more.

"If there's nothing else, then I'll take my leave now." The Shadow walked towards the extreme right edge of the rooftop, stepping into Shizuo's line of sight. Shizuo was as silent as his rescuer as he watched "Izaya" leap onto the railing, standing with confidence in the moon's rays. With a smirk, the Shadow said, "Oh and, if I were you, I'd explain every single thing to Shizu-chan over there. The poor brainless protozoan looks like he has no clue about what's happening."

"Eh..."

Shizuo heard the person who saved him mutter as he turned around to face him. A pair of outstanding pink eyes stared widely at Shizuo, who could only gape at the sight of the man with headphones around his neck.

"A...another Izaya?!" Shizuo exclaimed.

The pink-eyed raven looked like he was at a loss for words.

"Well then! It seems like my job here is done," declared the Shadow, who was smiling sweetly at the two. The air around him began to ripple as he raised his right hand and waved. His body became translucent as it started to fade away. "Until next time, then, Shizu-chan. I'll be waiting for you in the heart of the Forest…together with the one you call the 'real flea', of course."

And then with a laugh he was gone, right as the clouds covered the moon's glow, leaving the pair in awkward silence in the darkness.

Knock knock

"Yes?" a raspy male voice spoke. "Who is it?"

"Excuse me, Nakura-san. The meal you have requested for is here."

"Ah... I see. Hang on for a moment." The person named Nakura stood and walked over to the door, sliding it open gently for the lady who was carrying the tray of food to enter. "I'm sorry for the trouble at this time of the day."

"Oh no, it's no trouble at all. It is our duty as staff of the Amagi Inn to ensure that our guests have an enjoyable stay here, after all," the lady replied, flashing a professional smile at him as she placed the tray on the table.

While the staff was laying out the plates and crockery for him, Nakura tilted the tip of his baseball cap down and mumbled a sincere "Thank you" to her. In return, she maintained her smile, and thanked him back for coming to Inaba and wished him a pleasant stay before leaving the room in bright spirits.

The man in the grey turtleneck and black cap simply remained where he was and stared at the food. Then, with a resigned sigh, he settled down on the floor and quietly thanked for the meal before he started eating in silence.

As he picked his food with the chopsticks provided, the brown-haired man thought back to how he had spent his past week here in the quiet little town called Inaba.

It wasn't like he had intended to stay for this long. Being a small town in the countryside, there really wasn't much for him to see, aside from the hill overlooking the houses and the peaceful river by the floodplain. The shrine did take him by surprise, though, as he had expected it to be more modest instead of sparkling gold considering the fact that the rest of the town had much milder colours.

But Nakura's purpose was not to admire the limited number of sights Inaba had to offer.

No, he had one motive and just one motive alone: to seek the information he needed.

And it was for that reason that he was extending his stay here in the rural town.

Meeting the man named Adachi Tooru was merely the first step to achieving his purpose. After all, the former detective was the culprit behind the murder cases that took place two years ago. There was no better person to ask for information than Adachi Tooru himself.

After he had gathered the information he needed, Nakura went around the town and asked the townspeople to validate it. He had requested for Dojima Ryotarou's aid as well, who looked like he was suspicious of his intent but eventually answered Nakura's queries to the best of his ability.

The more he knew, however, the more questions he had, and so for the sake of getting these questions answered, the brown-haired man continued his investigation.

For instance, the whereabouts of those high school students he had heard so much about.

From the way Adachi Tooru recounted the details of the murders to him, it sounded like those high schoolers were involved in the case in some way. Dojima Ryotarou didn't reveal much, if at all, about them either. The only clues Nakura had were fleeting statements by the townspeople he had asked, with things like "You remind me of those high school kids who asked the same things" and "Why are you being as weird as those high school students a few years back?" And when Nakura questioned further, all he could find out was that they were from Yasogami High School - the only high school in the vicinity - and most of them had most likely graduated already.

Then as if that wasn't frustrating enough, there was also the whole buzz on the Internet about the famous Orihara of Shinjuku going missing.

News of that only reached Nakura very recently, actually. With how busy he had been with his investigation within Inaba, he barely had any time for surfing the net or checking on how Ikebukuro had been while he was away. It was only when Nakura reached a dead end in his search that he decided to contact Izaya - the man who had sent him in the first place - but all of his calls were answered with the same robotic line: "This phone service is currently unavailable. Please try again later."

He hadn't thought of it unusual until the information broker's sisters texted him, asking if he had seen their brother lately.

After a bit more probing and looking around the Internet, Nakura came to the conclusion that Izaya had indeed gone missing. Whether it was the informant's intention or not, that Nakura did and could not know.

But he had a feeling that it was the former.

The reason for this was the last thing Izaya said to him before he departed for Inaba:

"I'll be going on a long trip to a place where my phone service won't be working, so don't bother calling or texting me. Oh, and that goes for emails and apps and anything related, of course. Though I'm sure you won't need my help anyway."

"..."

Nakura placed the bowl and chopsticks down. Then he reached for his phone, swiped across the screen, went to his logbook and dialled the last number he called. The phone rung three times before the other end of the line clicked.

"This phone service is currently unavailable. Please try-"

Nakura ended the call and stared at the phone.

He thought back to the day Izaya called him up to his apartment. The day Izaya told him about Inaba and the murders. The day Izaya sent him off, looking as if he knew exactly what would happen to him not long after; as if everything was happening just as he wanted it to.

"...Izaya," Nakura hissed, his eyes full of hate and anger and concern. "Just what the hell are you planning?"