Author´s note: I'm so sorry everyone! I changed jobs just recently and as you may know if you read my previous notes, I used to write whole chapters while at work, and guess what? My new job does't have free internet! Boohoo, poor me. I know this is not a good enough excuse, but I still wanted to let you know. And thank you very much for all of your support! I love you all and I wish this chapter was good enough to make up for the long wait, but do not fear! The good part is coming right after this one and I have managed to find a way to write at work again! Yeeeey~ Ahem, well, let's head on to the anon section!

UsUkShiZayaSinJa: Thanks! I hope your finals went well! We'll get to know more about Izaya true intentions on the following chapters, so stay tuned!

Guest 1 (By order of appearance): Hehe, thanks sweetheart. Enjoy this one as well.

Guest 2: I'm sorry that there is no happy resolution in the near future, but please enjoy the drama :3

Guest 3: I'm glad! Stop by anytime!

silvervaga: Thank you for your super funny review! I'm so sorry I couldn't update sooner, but do not worry, the feels are coming alright!

Hakumeyen: Ahahaha... I'm sorry I couldn't update sooner. I'm a bad author-san A Forgive me?

shufflepink: A Izaya point of view of the story? That sounds interesting but I'm really bad at impersonating Izaya QwQ Still! Please enjoy the next chapter!

gabby: Will he ever find his pearl I wonder...? Hahaha, thankies for your review!

Guest 4: Sorry! Here is the next chappy!

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For all my lovelies who reviewed with an account, I will be answering those shortly! Now, this way please~

Chapter 10

Shizuo´s POV

When I opened my eyes again, I was looking at a very familiar ceiling.

I blinked a few times, trying to remember what happened the day before and suddenly the images from today's chase came back to me: Izaya running away, managing to corner him and having a heated discussion, the slash of a flick blade and running after him again and then...

Right. I got hit by a car...

I sighed while dragging a hand over my face.

Looking around, I half-hoped to see a certain raven close by my bed, but there was no one else but me in my room.

What was I thinking yesterday, running after Izaya like that? Doing that just made me look like I was at fault. I mean, sure, I did want to know about his past, but it wasn't like I directly asked them about it.

I sat up, glad to notice that I had no difficulty in doing so, and quickly made up my mind to go and look for Izaya. We needed to talk, for real this time.

But, right when I was ready to jump out of the bed, the door of the room flew open, letting a very angry nurse in.

Celty looked around the room before her eyes fell on me, freezing me in mid-step out of the bed. She looked downright pissed while she marched towards my bed. When she was right in front of me she pushed me down, not strongly enough to actually move me, but her cold stare was all it took to make me back down.

I have never seen Celty so pissed off before.

"Are you mad at me?", I dared to ask when she just turned around to take some pills from my bedside table.

She didn't look over or made any sign of having heard me.

"Celty…", I called her, trying to get a reaction out of the silent woman.

She abruptly turned back, her hands shaking and her face a furious shade of red.

"You promised!", her violent movements made me back down further into the bed. "You promised you would be careful, and look at you!", for some reason I could very well hear the anger of her voice in my head.

"Celty, calm down…", I tried again, but she refused to listen.

"I told you he meant trouble and look at you now! You got hit by a motorized car!", she was way too deep into her ramble to listen to me.

"That was not his fault…", I mumbled, looking the other way.

"That's what he wants you to think! For all you know, he could have manipulated you into running into that car from the beginning!"

"Celty", I called her in a more serious tone.

"The worst thing is that I warned you just yesterday…", her angry mask finally slipped off her face and worry replaced it.

I sighed at her expression. I knew she meant well, but she was overreacting.

"Celty, I know you don't trust Izaya. But trust me, okay?", I reasoned with her.

Her face didn't change much at my statement, but after awhile she took a long breath in, calming down a bit.

"Besides, this wasn't his fault, we were running and not looking at our surroundings. An accident was bound to happen."

I'm actually glad it was me, I kept that thought to myself.

I threw a sidelong glance to Celty, who had remained quiet for a while. She still looked upset, but mostly worried and concerned. I placed a hand over her tightly fisted one to reassure her.

"This is nothing for me. You know I'm tough", I smiled again.

Celty finally sighed, slumping her shoulders. She knew about the story behind my inhuman strength, so deep down she knew that an accident like this was nothing life-threatening to me.

"He's right, Celty", Shinra entered through the open door, looking through a few papers. He raised his eyes with his usual smile before closing the door behind him. "It never ceases to amaze me how resilient you actually are, Shizuo", he said in an overly excited tone. "No broken bones, no big bruises and no reason to ground you to your room either", that last part was slightly hinted towards Celty.

She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Thanks, Shinra", I quickly said, sliding off the bed and picking out some clean clothes, "By the way, did Izaya come by when I was out of it?", I asked, trying to sound nonchalant while I dressed behind a curtain.

"Nope, the only ones who came to visit were Tom and Vorona", he responded. "You were just dead cold for a few hours anyways", he added.

I cursed through my teeth. I hoped that Izaya had gotten back to the safety of the cave during those hours.

As soon as I was fully clothed again I rushed for the door, with Celty hot on my heels, surely trying to convince me to at least wait until tomorrow. I tried to ignore her the best I could and opened the door, almost colliding with the person that was already on the other side.

I glared at the sudden obstacle before noticing who it was.

"Heiwajima, I'm glad to see that you're already back on your feet", were the impassive words that greeted me, snapping me out of my sudden anger.

I stood straight, saluting the captain with my right hand. He made a dismissive gesture with his hands, telling me to relax again.

"Captain Shiki, what a surprise to have you here at our humble dorms", Shinra greeted him, giving him one of his characteristic polite smiles.

"One of my soldiers got hit by a car on the streets, shouldn't it be normal for me to check on them?", Shiki smoothly responded while entering the room with his second in command, the First Lieutenant Akabayashi, in tow.

Akabayashi was an imposing man that always had a smile on his face and a patch over his right eye. What laid beneath it was a mystery to us all.

"Well, of course not. But we're talking about Shizuo Heiwajima here, whose indestructibility is well known around these parts, are we not?", Shinra continued, completely unfazed by the two men.

Shiki let out a small sigh before answering.

"You got me there Doctor Kishitani, my visit may not be all out of concern", he conceded, turning to look at me with a serious expression.

Me? I internally cringed, the image of Izaya quickly returning to my mind. Does he know?

"Heiwajima", he called.

"Yes, sir?", I responded as calmly as I could muster.

"I have a mission for you".

oOoOoOoOoOo

I was alone in my room now, re-reading the damned assignation order in my hands for the umpteenth time. This has to be a joke.

I just couldn't freaking believe this! I was leaving for a frigging mission TOMORROW, at DAWN. And one that would last at least a week, at that.

When the captain gave me the assignation I immediately read the specifics and could only let a dry, unbelieving laugh escape my lips at the absurdity of it all. The man in front of me didn't find anything funny about it, though, if his unchanging expression was anything to go by.

I groaned, rubbing the bridge of my nose to calm down. I glanced around the room, checking the current state of chaos of the place.

Guess I overdid it.

Still dazed by the sudden change in my immediate future, I couldn't even muster an answer for the captain when he left. Celty and Shinra stayed a little while longer before noticing that I was about to go on a destruction spree. They wisely decided to leave then, abandoning me to my anger and frustration.

The second I was finally left alone, I let out a strangled groan, letting my temper get the better of me. Throwing over the chairs, tables and basically anything I could get my hands on, the whole room had turned into a mess by the time Tom arrived back with the same assignation order in his hands.

Noticing my current bad mood, he deemed it wise not to ask about it, silently picking up clothes and furniture and setting up two bags for our mission. If I were in any other state of mind, I would have felt bad for leaving everything to Tom, but right now I could only stare at the stupid piece of paper and hope that it would just spontaneously combust in front of me.

What were the odds?

Not a single mission in the whole year I've been living in Sagena, and the one day I really need to be here and fix the things with Izaya, a week-long mission. I didn't know if I should laugh at my fate or curse it.

Should I play sick and not go at all?, my mind suggested.

I silently chuckled at the idea, knowing full well that it was impossible to avoid this mission after the captain himself handed me the assignation order. I had my hands tied.

"Hey", I suddenly heard a voice breaking the tense silence.

I lifted my eyes from the paper for the first time in what could have been ages to look at Tom. He was looking at me with a small condescending smile.

"I may not know exactly what happened to put you in this mood", he said, throwing a look around the room where some clothes were still scattered around. "But I think I know you enough to tell that you must be just overthinking things"

I opened my eyes in surprise at Tom's statement.

"I mean, you only ever get frustrated when you don't know what to do. But most of the times you just have to get up and do it, whatever you're doubting", he concluded, scratching the back of his head.

Tom's words made me realize that he was right. I could spend the rest of the night moping about my bad luck, or I could just suck it up and go talk to Izaya.

As if possessed, I immediately went to open the door, sending a grateful glance at Tom before crossing the doorway and running for the nearest exit to town as fast as my legs could carry me.

I swear I heard a long sigh coming from somewhere behind me.

oOoOoOoOoOo

I reached the entrance of the cave completely out of breath, but right before entering, my body froze. I was willing myself to take the first step into the dark creek, but my mind was having doubts about it. My brain had suddenly decided it convenient to remind me of the argument that I had with Izaya just earlier today and my iron-like resolve started to shatter.

Will he even listen to me?, I wondered, not so sure anymore that this was a good idea. Was I ready to explain everything to him this time around? I already knew just how good I was at explaining myself where Izaya was concerned, and I wasn't even sure where to start the next time I faced him. Should I apologize for the misunderstanding or start right away with the truth of what actually happened?

Does it even matter?, a pissed off voice resounded within my head. Just fucking go and make up with him!

I took the first step into the creek, trying not to overthink it anymore.

oOoOoOoOoOo

I reached the pond sooner than I expected, but it could have been just my anxiousness taking its toll on me. I stood there, waiting, half hoping that Izaya made his appearance already and half dreading the moment he did.

When five minutes went by without any change in the surface of the water I knew that Izaya wasn't going to come out. I knew he was there, if the clothes sprawled around were anything to go by, but he was not going to face me, just like earlier.

I continued to stare at the water surface with my patience straining to impossible lengths, powerless and frustrated as I've never felt before. Once more I was reminded that if Izaya didn't want to do something, there was nothing that I could do to change that. I finally clicked my tongue, slightly feeling how my nails had buried onto my palms by the sheer strength I was using to fist them.

I looked at my hands and I sighed, relaxing my arms. There was no point in getting frustrated now, even though I really wanted to make up before leaving tomorrow.

"Flea, look", I started out, only receiving my echo as a response. "I'm not even sure if you can hear me like this…", I mentally slapped myself, this was not the time to get discouraged. "I really wanted to talk to you today, I wanted to explain you everything. But you just had to go and make your own assumptions…", a small snarl escaped my lips, but I had to remind myself to calm down. "I don't care about your past… No wait, it's not like that", I scratched my head. Trying to have a conversation when I was the only one doing the talking was not my forte. "What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter what you did before!", I shouted, as if by doing that the meaning will get across more easily.

I remained in silence after that, hoping against hope that Izaya would decide to come out now after my little speech, miraculously touched by my words. But the waters remained as impassive as ever, mocking my feeble attempt at fixing things.

"... I was assigned to a mission", I mumbled. "I will not be here for a week", I clenched my teeth, still mad about it. "I just wanted to let you know", I turned around to leave, not being able to handle the silence any longer.

I walked my way out, but right when I was about to step into the creek that would lead me outside, I stopped to look back one more time.

I didn't like leaving like this. I didn't like not being able to make amends with Izaya, but I wasn't being given any other choice.

"Be careful", I mumbled before getting out.

oOoOoOoOoOo

The next morning we left very early. The town where the mission was assigned was a little far away from Sagena and we had to mount a campament in the mountains during the first night. I had not slept well the night prior, and the following night was no different, with the constant thought that Izaya might ran into trouble while I was away. Or even worse, that Izaya decided to leave for the ocean while I was not there to stop him.

My mood was just worsening the farther we got from Sagena.

By the end of the second day of travel, we finally arrived to the town. It was a small and cozy place between the mountains, but because of that it seemed that some bandits had decided to place their headquarters nearby and were assaulting the people who traveled along these paths. The townspeople, tired of this abuse, had decided to reach out for help from the mainland. So basically, we just had to pin point these bandits' lair and kick them out of here.

It wasn't a particularly tough mission, so I wasn't really sure why I was specially requested to come here. I guess it was just a provisory measure to ensure that it will be successful one, but the only thought that was on my mind was to finish this quick and wrap everything up so I could return as soon as possible.

The night of our arrival, we gathered around a big bonfire to have our dinner. The townsfolk had welcomed us warmly with the little food they were able to muster up in such a short notice, and were now having dinner along with us. It was a very heartwarming situation, but I couldn't help to feel a hollow sensation inside.

I decided not to bum everybody else's dinner with my mood and went to sit on the farthest tree stump to the fire. I watched the night sky for a while, wondering what could Izaya be doing at the moment.

"Hey", I heard a friendly voice calling.

I dropped my gaze to catch the figure of Tom sitting on a stump near me with a bowl of his own.

"Yo", I lazily answered back, not exactly thrilled by the company, but not hating it either.

"What are you doing all the way here?", Tom casually asked me, giving me a sidelong glance. "Something on your mind?"

"I think is rather someone, actually", I boldly admitted, raising my gaze to the stars once more.

"I see... ", he answered. If he was surprised by my answer, it really didn't show.

We remained in silence for a while, listening to the sound of the fire crackling and the animated voices of the people surrounding it.

"That Izaya boy I assume?", Tom interrupted the silence not much after that.

I quickly incorporated myself to look at Tom properly. The shock must have shown on my face, since Tom chuckled at me when I looked at him.

"What? You can't possibly think that I wouldn't notice, right?", he retorted with a snicker. "You were the one who told me about it, remember?", I blinked, pretty sure I never told Tom about this, mostly because I had just figured out my own feelings not too long ago. "Anyways, I just had bit and pieces, but everything fell in place when I saw you during the festival".

I felt a slight warm sensation cover my cheeks before I decided to turn the other way, not being able to take Tom's cheshire grin anymore.

"Hahaha! You have nothing to feel embarrassed about!", Tom barked, smacking my back."I just knew it was him when I saw you looking so happy around him", the heat of my cheeks was rapidly expanding all the way to my ears. "He was quite cute, that Izaya", his tone was teasing, but I couldn't help the glare that escaped my eyes.

"Excuse me", a small voice interrupted us from behind.

We turned around to face whoever had called us. It was one of the ladies who were helping serve the dinner before. She had quite a petit complexion and was looking at us with an amused smile, as if we were just discussing something really interesting.

"I'm sorry for dropping in on your conversation all of a sudden, but I couldn't help myself", she excused herself, but she didn't look or sound very apologetic.

She was actually looking at me with curious eyes. She quickly took a seat right beside me on the same stump, her eyes never even turning to Tom. We stared at her with awkward expectation, trying to figure out what this girl wanted since she wasn't explaining herself.

"Did you just say 'Izaya'?", she cut the chase, her expression not even changing one bit.

My eyes widened at the mention of Izaya's name before I glared at her with distrust. Who the hell is this girl?

"Who-?', but before I could finish my question, the woman spoke again.

"Oh, where are my manners?", she said, smacking her head lightly. She then extended a hand towards me. "My name is Saki"

oOoOoOoOoOo

OtPr: Well... How was it? Slow paced? I personally don't like this chapter very much. (I don't like low rhythm chapters, but my beta reminds me that they are necessary to build up the story). But I really hope it wasn't that disappointing either! Here is a new character! What will Saki add to the story, hmm~? You will find out soon enough! Now! Regarding the little contest from last chapter! Congratulations to Noah Earl Graves for being the 100th review! (Pops party poppers). And according to your request, I will be making a One Shot with Psyche, Delic, Tsugaru and Hibiya and our lovelies here, when this story is over! Regarding that, I have a very important announcement to do! This story is nearing it's end! TwT Finally, it was very hard to reach this point, but I completely owe this to you, my readers. Thank you for being there and I hope you will remain there for the rest of the path! See you next time!