I told Shinra what the gang had done to Izaya. He and Celty just sat there, Shinra staring at his coffee cup. He looked like he was about to shatter it between his palms. I reached down and grabbed it from him.

"Shizuo, what are you doing?" He asked angrily.

"You looked like you were going to break it. Unlike me, that would hurt a lot to you."

"Sorry, I was just angry. I want to know how they found out Izaya's phobia. And to think they took it that far. Enough to make him refuse to do the job he loved before all of this." Shinra was fuming. If smoke could come out of his head, it would have.

"His fear of being in water over his head?"

"No, he has an extreme fear of drowning. Izaya and I were friends when we were little too, not just in high school. One summer the parents of a friend of ours took us and another boy to the beach for a weekend. We stayed right next to the beach. The others wanted to swim at night, so we snuck out. It was fun for a while. We stayed close to the shore because Izaya couldn't swim. The other two boys said they wanted to swim farther out though. They did, and ended up getting caught in a riptide. It took them a while to realize it. They didn't until they got tired, but couldn't get any closer to the shore. I left Izaya to stay watching them and ran to wake up our friend's parents. We were too late though. Izaya had watched them drown, unable to help." By this point, Shinra was on the verge of tears and Celty was rubbing his back in soothing circles.

"I'm sorry I asked."

"It's fine. You should know why Izaya has changed so much since he no longer sees you as an enemy anymore…I'll go check him for injuries." He got up and started toward the room, I started to follow but he paused and turned. "You should wait in the living room if Izaya is okay with that." I nodded and followed Shinra into the living room and took a seat on the remaining couch.

. . . .

After about twenty minutes, Shinra came out and shut the door behind him. He looked grim, but this was a grim situation. I just hope that he can help Izaya recover. He's known him much longer than I have, after all.

"How is he?" I asked, a little afraid to hear the answer.

"Well, he's almost a completely different person. He does seem to be okay without you constantly with him now though. He was also much more relaxed around me. We might be able to get him back to his old self over time. Physically, he is cut up and bruised over most of his body. He said one guy had a club with nails in it, so that did quite a bit of damage. I'll have to monitor him for internal bleeding. He's back to normal body temperature now though. He was in pain, so I gave him some medicine. He'll probably sleep a while because of it." I was stuck on his earlier words though. Could we really get Izaya back to his old self? Do I want the old Izaya back, or do I prefer the new Izaya?

"I need to clean and re-wrap your leg. Does it hurt a lot? I can give you some pain medicine too."

"No, it just feels like a pinch every now and then; nothing too painful." Shinra nodded and motioned me into the room. Izaya was asleep on the bed, but Shinra had a sheet on the couch so I just laid down there. He unwrapped my leg, poured some liquid on it that burned, wiped it off, and rewrapped it.

"Celty and I are going to head to Russian Sushi and get us all some food. You want anything in particular?" Shinra asked as he was cleaning up.

"Just tell Simon that I want the usual, he will know what I mean."

. . . .

There was screaming. Why was there screaming? I opened my eyes and sunlight blinded me. I must have fallen asleep. I had to force my eyes open again, the sunlight causing them to water. I jumped up and looked around. The only other person in the room was Izaya, but he was writhing on the bed. I ran over and shook him awake.

"Izaya, it's just a nightmare. Wake up!" His eyes shot open, but they were glazed over. He was probably still groggy from that medicine Shinra gave him. A moan left his lips and all my thoughts stopped suddenly. Blood rushed south. This was not the time for that! But, Izaya's hands flew to his side and pain must have pulled him out of his daze.

"Ow, shit!" He half groaned, half hissed.

"What?" By this point I was panicked. I wasn't a doctor. I didn't know what to do in these situations.

"My side hurts." He pulled his hands off and lifted his shirt up. Blood was seeping out of a cut that ran from the top right corner of his ribs to around the middle of his stomach. I ran over to Shinra's wall of cabinets and started jerking the doors open. Finally, I saw a familiar box that he had got the material he wrapped my leg in. I ripped some off and ran over to Izaya and held it on his cut.

"Calm down, Shizuo. It's not that deep. I just re-opened it when I was having a nightmare." I didn't care how deep it was, it had freaked me out. After I held it down for a few minutes, I made Izaya sit up so I could wrap it.

"Looks like I pulled the IV out of my arm. Can you hand it to me?"

"Yeah, but what good will that do?" I asked, handing it to him. He felt his arm for a minute, and then stabbed it back into his vein.

"What?! How do you even know you got it back where it was supposed to be?"

"I've been here a lot. I often rip them out in my sleep. I finally just had Shinra show me how."

"Why have you been here a lot?" He just looked at me like I was an idiot.

"You hit hard, you know?" My jaw practically dropped.

"I've made you have to come to Shinra's? I didn't think I ever actually hurt you."

"Shizu-chan has made me come here quite a few times. Especially that time you hit me directly with that vending machine."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. I hid it from you because it's fun to fight with you." As he continued to speak, it got slower. Shinra must have put the pain meds in the IV. I sat there in silence for a few minutes, processing what Izaya had just told me.

"You know, I love you Shizuo." My attention had never snapped to something faster in my life. Was he high? Was it the pain medicine making him loopy?