Author's note: I'm not dead! I'm so sorry for the long wait! I promise it will not happen again! As a show of appreciation to all those who will still read this, this chapter is extra-large. Hope you like it!

Akakuro Seiya: I´m sorry for the wait on the update, hope this chappy is of your liking again!

Maru de Kusanagi: Hahaha, yes. That's what happens when you bet on your senpai knowledge! Thanks! I hope you like the siren Izaya of this chapter as well!

nameless feeling: Thank you! I'm glad you think so.

eccentricpanda801: Hahaha, really? I personally find it easier to write like this. Yes, I'm doing all well now! (If only I could make my brain work faster… *sighs*). I promise I will write faster now!

MaliceHawk: Thanks for your wonderful review! Hahaha, yes, it's kind of funny. I really hope you think the same of the Izaya in this chapter QwQ. I'm so glad to hear that! Actually this FF started off with a dream I had about being a siren LOL. Would love to feed your imagination anytime!

Ok, I'll stop babbling now. On with the chapter!

Chapter 3

Shizuo´s POV

"What am I even doing here…?" The question sounded through my mind for the umpteenth time that day.

I was standing in front of the chasm that I have come to know oh so very well for the past few days. In my right hand was a rucksack that contained, among other things, some medicines and some ointments that Celty was so kind to provide me with, after seeing the cut in my chest five days ago.

"Five days ago, huh…"

That day… I think I will never forget the expression that the quiet nurse put on when I showed her my wound when I came back to the base. It seems that not only was the cut made with something really sharp, but also, it seems that it was poisoned. Go figure, these sirens were as deathly and dangerous as the townspeople feared.

Of course I couldn´t tell her nor Shinra the real cause of the cut. A half assed lie about a cave that I stumbled upon having a sharp edge on one of its walls was the only thing I could come up with at the moment. Neither of them seemed to believe me, of course; But Shinra dropped the subject after a short while and also agreed to not tell Tom anything about it, but I couldn´t shake off the feeling that Celty had become a little too wary of me ever since then…

Well, it could just be me. Is not like I´ve been my best these past few days anyways.

Between trying to prevent Tom from catching a look of my chest (Hard thing to do being roommates), writing my report of that day skipping any real detail about the dream-like creature that attacked me and avoiding to show any sign of the shiver that attempted to run down my body when the inquisitive glare of Captain Shiki was sent my way after being asked if there was anything mention-worthy about my recent patrols on town…

Definitely more nerve wracking than preparing for the militia admission exams.

I don´t even know why I haven´t spilled anything about that dangerous encounter to anyone. That bastard had even admitted that he was the one behind the murders of those soldiers, so why haven´t I…

Frustrated with myself, I ran a hand through my hair before finally taking the first step inside the cave.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

I stood once more in front of that pond inside the cave. The dark water welcomed me as I stared at its depths, just waiting for something, anything actually, to happen. I haven´t seen that guy (If I could call it that) again since he disappeared in those waters five days ago.

What was I expecting anyways? That monster to come out again and… And what, really? Was that monster even real or did I just imagine the whole thing…? I shook my head at the thought. No. It was real. The cut in my chest was proof of that.

I let out the air that I was holding and bashed my head mentally for doing this same routine for the fifth consecutive day. That thing was long gone to the ocean and planning to never return for all I know.

But just when I was turning around to exit the cave, I heard it. The sound of the water surface being broken by something.

I turned around so fast that I was surprised I didn´t give myself a whiplash. My eyes immediately fell back onto the pond and I couldn´t help the sharp intake of air when two glowing red eyes stared right back at me. My blood completely froze at the sight of pale white skin coming up from the otherwise pitch black waters. It was like an image taken straight out from one of the Sagenians nightmares.

I can´t tell for sure just how long our stare contest extended, but it ended when the mysterious creature started to move (Or swim, whatever) at an inhumanly high speed in my direction. My first instinct was to search for the sword hanging at my side, ready to use it if the situation demanded it, my eyes never leaving those of the siren. He stopped right at the edge of the pond and, after a short moment, decided to pull his head completely out of the water to speak.

"Why, if it isn´t the retarded" his voice said in an amused tone, his eyes narrowing slightly as his mouth twisted itself in a smirk.

I stopped myself from jumping in surprise, the sudden disruption of the silence taking me out of the hazy state I was in since the appearance of the creature. Before I could even retort, he continued.

"Coming here alone again? You must be either really confident or really stupid" He made a short pause and I could feel my blood start to boil. "I'm inclined to believe the latter" He giggled at his own joke and I felt my patience snap.

If you haven't noticed up until now, I don't own the biggest patience there is (Even though I wish I did, it could bring me a little more peace). So before even knowing what was going on anymore, my body moved by itself and took out the big rock that was resting beside me, raising it over my head while my eyes could only see red.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A RETARDED, HUH!?" I heard myself roar while throwing the rock right at the pond.

I big splash followed the action and I saw the rock sinking heavily on the body of water, making the excess of it overflow and soak my naked feet. I waited until the waters became calm once more and waited another minute before realizing what I have done.

"Damn…" I cursed under my breath, damning my temper and strength.

I had come here all these days expecting for something like this to happen, and when it does I have to scare the frigging bastard…

Before I could continue that train of thought, I saw something whitish moving inside the pond. I fixed my sight on it until the siren came out of the water once more, his glowing eyes wide with surprise and strangely, not a sign of fear could be found in his expression. It was more like… He found all that amusing.

"My apologies," he said with mirth, recovering his playful behavior. "Monster is more like it, right?" he laughed once more, his eyes watching my every move in the case I decided that the pond needed another rock.

It was extremely difficult not to follow through that thought.

"I already told you…" my voice was low, clear sign that my patience was at its limit AGAIN. "I don´t appreciate that name, much less from a REAL monster like you…"

The creature huffed, raising his chin and smiling at the comment.

"I beg to differ, I cannot lift rocks that weight ten times more than me. That clearly makes you the REAL monster between us" At that moment I really wished I could just shut up that smartass mouth.

"SHUT U-!"

"PLUS!" he interrupted me. "I have no real name to call you by now, do I?" He explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I frowned at that, it pained me to admit that the bastard was right. I scoffed, diverting my gaze from those glowing rubies.

"The name´s Shizuo" I spat, finding no real reason to provide my last name.

From the corner of my eye I saw the creature test the word on his lips without pronouncing it. I propped a brow at that. He looked like a kid.

"So…?" I urged, turning his way again.

He looked me like he didn´t understood what I was referring to.

"Yours. What´s yours?" my voice was trembling with exasperation.

Realization washed over his face before he smirked once more.

"What, you think I'm so stupid as to provide my important name just because you asked?"

Not the best day for my patience, as you can see.

My body decided that the pond indeed needed another rock and one near me was the perfect size for the job. While raising it though, I was stopped by his voice.

"Stop!" I turned around to see the siren´s resigned face. "Okay, okay, I got it. Just… Leave the rocks already" he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

The rock returned to its place with a crashing sound. Some of the smaller rocks around it fell to the water along with some dirt.

"Geez, you should learn how to handle your temper, you-"

"Weren't you going to say your name?" It was my turn to interrupt, my grip on the rock tightening to show that I could still change my mind.

He looked at my hands before returning his gaze on me. He didn´t look very pleased about being forced to say his name, but I couldn't care less about it at the moment.

"Izaya" he said simply and grumpily.

I don´t know why, but seeing the snarky bastard so disgruntled filled me with certain pride. "Not everything has to go your way" I thought.

"Now that the presentations are over" he said, all traces of the previous disgust gone from his face. "What are you doing here?" he said in an uninterested tone, then his voice went back to mockery. "You thought I would make a fine trophy and came to catch me?" he took his upper half of the water and rested his elbows on an especially flat rock near me. His head resting in the palm of his left hand while his eyes were now focused on the claws of his right one. For some reason I couldn´t take my eyes off him. "Because if that's the case…"

Suddenly, his free arm made a whip like movement and collided with my feet, making me lose my balance and falling on my side. Soon enough I felt the body of the siren crushing my chest with all its weight, immobilizing both of my arms with its tail. I opened my eyes to see the face of Izaya close to mine, and I felt the claws from his left hand pressing dangerously at my neck.

It was until then that I was so close to his face that I noticed that his eyes, while still glowing, were not as bright as last time. I could clearly remember that the first time I saw those eyes, they glowed with a deathly treat, but now… They were just a faint red. Also, I saw some marks at the side of his head near the eyes that seemed like they were made of dark blue scales. I was mesmerized.

"One of the very first stories they told me when I got here was that these sirens look like the most beautiful creature in the world" the words I heard from Tom resounded through my mind.

I´ll be damned, I should have put more attention to my superior´s advice.

"What? Bewitched already?" the hidden laugh in the words made me go back to the present. This Izaya guy was laughing with an air of superiority while watching my face get hot. "And I haven´t even used my voice yet"

He was mocking me again. This bastard…!

I was going to use my strength to get the smartass off me when the claws at my neck reminded me of the situation at hand.

"No, no, no~" his voiced sing-sang. "Before any of that, you have to answer me~" he slowly put his face a mere inch from mine before continuing. At that distance, I could feel his breath on my face. His eyes were half lidded while mine were open like plates. "Did you told anyone about me?" his voice was now a mere whisper with a venomous undertone.

I felt the words enter my brain and for some reason I felt compelled to answer without a second of thought.

"No…" my voice sounded foreign in my ears. It was husky as if I hadn´t used it in hours.

I clearly saw his eyes go wide with surprise at my answer. In that second the mental fog in my head dispersed and I was able to think properly again. I took the chance and pushed the body of the siren off me, the action also snapping Izaya back to reality. He made a quick move to slash his claws at my arms but I managed to dodge the poisonous nails in the last second. Taken aback by my reflexes he opted for a kick of his tail right at my chest. Big mistake. I grabbed the muscle right at the beginning of its caudal fin and managed to get a firm grip with both hands. With a spin of my body I got enough pivot to launch his whole body crashing into the wall I had at my back. I saw the creature arc against the wall on impact, eyes wide open with pain. Then a second crash with the floor rendered the siren motionless.

I was panting when everything ended, the adrenaline in my blood stream subsiding. Slowly and very cautiously, I walked over to where the creature was, not moving anymore. When I was close enough to see his face expression I also noticed that some blood was starting to run down his side. His breath was elaborate and his eyes were clenched shut, a hand gently placed over the old wound that had reopened. When he felt me close, one of his eyes opened to regard me.

"Well…?" he panted, a little breathless. "Finish it already, I don't have all day…" even when his life could be finished with a single more blow from me, the snarky comments never ceased, huh…?

I sighed at the scene before me, ruffling my hair and wondering what I should do now. It wasn´t like this murderer really deserved any kind of compassion from me. He tried to attack me twice now and killed some of my fellow soldiers as well, not to mention that the only thing that came out from his mouth were insults and smartass comments. I opened my eyes to give another look over him.

"Ah, damn!" I screamed at myself before sitting down at the siren side and removing the hand off the wound.

"Oi! Don't!" when the pressure that the hand was making over the flesh disappeared the gash opened itself again. Izaya hissed at the motion, another sharp but tired glare was sent to me. "What are you…?!"

"Shut up" I said disregarding his question. "If can´t see it I'm not going to be able to stop the bleeding" I answered matter-of-factly. After inspecting the wound I reapplied pressure over it with my own hand.

That seemed to be enough to shut the bastard up, giving me time to look in my rucksack for what I needed. The wound wasn´t as big as to need suturing so a quick bandage and some ointment should do…

"What did you say…?" I heard him whisper incredulously when my attention returned to the wound.

"This will hurt" I said before spraying some disinfectant over the wound, noticing that the blood has already stopped coming and only the flesh remained open. It seemed like it was slightly infected, so this should make it better.

Another hiss was released by Izaya.

"That hurts, you brute!" he snapped at me.

"Good, it means its working" I said with a smirk of my own, seeing his face like that was pretty fun. "Now stop moving already, I have to bandage it before it gets infected again" I commanded, applying some ointment on it.

He huffed at my response, but complied anyways. I felt him take a deep breath before laying his whole body on the ground, his muscles relaxing a bit. Putting on a gauze bandage on the wound, I admired my work. Then I noticed that it probably wouldn't hold on with how much this guy moved. I looked for a good solution and, with the help of a larger bandage, held it in place, surrounding his waist with it. While doing so, I couldn´t help but notice the slim waist of the guy. What was he? Female? Or were all the siren males this feminine? It made me wonder. My eyes lingered on his body for a while longer than needed before returning my sight to his face.

It shouldn't surprise me that those eyes were once more on me and the usual smirk was back in place.

"Like what you see?" he asked, winking an eye.

"W-WHO WOULD..!?" I cursed mentally when I heard myself stammer, feeling my face grow hot in shame.

The cat like laugh of the siren echoed all over the place at my reaction, but stopped soon when the pain on the wound was enough to make him flinch.

"Ahaha…" the laugh finally died down completely. "I knew it, you are really an interesting human".

A small silence followed those strange words. They ringed a bell somewhere in my mind, but I couldn´t put my finger on it at the moment.

"Don't waste my efforts now, if you keep laughing like a maniac it will open again" I retorted, trying to change the topic back to the wound.

"Wouldn't you patch me again if that happened?" he asked in a fake innocent tone, flapping his eyelashes.

"LIKE HELL!" I answered, standing again and ready to take my leave of this damned place.

"Oi, Shizuo, wait!" I heard him call.

I stopped without turning back, a strange feeling rushing through me at the sound of my name in his voice. I strongly considered to ignore the call and just continue my exit, but something in his tone made me stay.

"What now?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder his way.

His sight immediately darted to the side, his upper half still resting on his elbows.

"You threw me over here, the least you could do is put me back in the water…" he mumbled with a tiny and upset tone.

I stared in disbelief at the development. Was this… His way to ask for a favor?

I couldn't contain my laugh at such a display. I doubled over grasping my stomach when it started to hurt.

"STOP LAUGHING!" he demanded, his face a deep frown but his red ears betrayed him.

Still laughing but less than before, I walked over to the siren and lifted his body from the ground. His arms immediately darted to my neck (With less deathly intentions) to balance himself. I smiled at him, the strange feeling intensifying when thinking that the guy was rather cute when he wasn´t acting almighty.

With a few large steps I arrived at the pond edge and, mindful of the bandage, placed the creature back in the water. Only when he was sure that he would fall inside the pond did he start to release my neck, not before sending another glance to my face, in the case I changed my mind and it showed on my expression. When his eyes reached mine though, it was like we were frozen in place. His eyes were really…

"Beautiful…"

I slapped myself mentally when the thought crossed my mind, my cheeks heating up for what felt like the tenth time in the past hour. I tore my eyes from that bewitching gaze and cleared my throat to coax the other to let go of me.

Quickly as if my skin burned him, his hands released me and the rest of him body fell to the pond. He returned to the surface and checked that the bandage didn't come off with the movement.

"Well…" I still couldn´t face him, my right fist over my mouth while I coughed uncomfortably. "I'll… Check on the bandage tomorrow" I stated to fill in the awkward silence.

"Sure" the other responded a little too soon to be normal.

I turned around set on getting out of here this time.

"Uhm… Thanks…" I heard a small whisper right before taking the first step inside the narrow alley that lead to the outside.

This time I really ignored it.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Back at the base after my round was (finally) over, I received the news that some new soldiers were joining our ranks starting today. I didn't really care about such happening so I left it to Kadota and the others to welcome the new guys. I just needed my bed and some rest from any smartass bastard, really.

While walking down the halls, I stumbled upon another soldier that wasn't paying attention either.

"Ah, sorry…" I instinctively apologized, trying to continue my way.

"Superior Shizuo…?" a feminine familiar voice made me stop and regard the person properly.

My eyes immediately recognized that blond hair and purple eyes.

"Vorona…?"

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

OtPr: First of all! I would like to apologize to all those who favorited/reviewed/followed my story and didn´t receive a chapter until today. I personally hate it when authors do this and I have no real excuse more than… I have no one to ship Shizaya with, so coming up with ideas about this story is becoming difficult. BUT! A friend of mine is helping me, and even though she doesn´t like Shizaya, she has been brainstorming this story and making me interested again. I have good news as well! I have the whole story planned now so I shouldn't drop it again for so long! Yey! Now, back to the story! Yes, I need to include Vorona here. What for? Oh, you will see… *malicious laugh*. Please tell me what your thoughts are about this chapter. Were the characters too out of it? Is the romance developing at the right pace? Any comment is gladly welcomed! See you soon! (I hope…)