Here is the next chapter! This one I had to do a lot of tweaking to to build character development and more in-depth relationships between the two main characters. There are also more thought bubbles to help better understand our protagonists. So without further ado, enjoy the update!

Shizuo

I stood in the open door for a moment, my mind coming to a blank. I stared, unblinking, at the heap of blankets piled over a shaking figure.

Who is that...? I thought in disbelief, not coming to any conclusions at all. Before I closed the door, I checked to make sure I had entered the correct room, despite the key in my hand enabling me to enter. Sure enough, it was the same room I had been staying in for almost a week. Nonetheless, I hesitantly closed the door behind me, nulling the room to zero source of light.

Another flash of lightning and crash of thunder was followed by a sharp yelp and movement under the covers.

It can't be...?

I stripped from my coat, setting it down as I cautiously made my way over to the bed that wasn't my own. Unaware of what compelled me to, I sat down next to the figure and pulled the sheets back. A burst of lightning gave me enough light for a split second, and I gasped at what I found curled up as tightly as the human body could possibly compress itself. The raven sat shuddering with his arms wrapped around his knees, panic-stricken eyes were wide open, staring blankly at nothing.

Another loud explosion of thunder shook the room, startling us both. He jumped when he saw me hovering where his shield had been, and I subconsciously tightened my grip on the layer of fleece.

"Izaya, what—"

"Go away! I don't want to look at you." It was the sharpest I had ever heard him address me, but that was my least of concerns. I ignored him as he tried to grab the blanket from my grasp, simply holding it out of range. Not that I was trying to piss him off, but I simply could not believe what I was seeing.

"Why are you—"

"I said, GO AWAY!" His voice broke as he snapped at me once again. He gave up on reaching for the blanket and curled in on himself more in hopes of further melting into the mattress.

I was in shock, to put it into simple terms. I didn't know how to handle a situation like this; the flea, so defenseless, so vulnerable. But most of my bewilderment came from the fact that I didn't feel so hateful toward him. Instead, I felt a strange sense of pity.

My body moved before my brain registered what it was doing as I moved closer to pull the raven into something that resembled an awkward side hug.

"Shizu-chan! What the hell—!"

"Shut up, dammit!" I barked, and he jumped in my hold. Surprisingly he obeyed, and his quivering started to slow down. I could feel the thrum of his racing heart nearly beat out of his chest against the side of my own rib cage. He was warm, too. The heat of his body stunned me as he settled into my arms without further protest. Moments passed and felt him relax little by little in our strange form of embrace. At some point in time, his fingers managed to curl around the fabric of my shirt, gripping more tightly every time the thunder resounded, but would relax once things quieted down.

"I hate you." He finally said, but to my amazement, he turned his head and buried it in my chest.

"I know."

We stayed like that for a while until the thunder became more distant, passing through the area. Eventually, the outbursts started to die down, sounding faint and further away. All that remained was the sound of hail that had turned to rain. I had dozed off for what seemed like the twenty minutes from the time I last spoke. I felt something stir in my arms and looked over to the flea who was moving to sit upright, still wrapping his arms around his knees. I too, moved to sit up straighter, but didn't say anything. He was tense now, and for some reason I didn't want to test his patience.

"You shouldn't have done that." He said it with a suppressed sigh, instead of the bite I was expecting.

"I don't see why not," I shrugged. It was a simple statement.

Either way, he looked over at me in confusion, brows knitted, and I could see the wetness that remained in his eyes. His mouth was open, as if he wanted to respond with a challenge, but closed it, resting his head back on his knees.

"I'm not weak…"

"Never said you were," I openly confessed. I bit my tongue before I could accidently let anything else that was completely stupid slip.

He glanced at me from the corner of his sharp eyes, scoffing. "That's rich, coming from you. You think everything is weak."

"Maybe physically," I said in defense, but I didn't know why. I didn't know why I was defending his ego.

"Oh yeah? And here all this time I thought I was your strongest opponent." The sternness in his voice softened, and there was a familiar lilt to his statement. It was almost as playful and sarcastic like he usually was. Something about the way he said it allowed me to relax more, and I didn't feel like I was walking on eggshells when I spoke to him.

"You're still a scrawny-ass fleabag."

"And you're still a monster." He turned to look at me with a smile, and for a moment, I almost thought of it as a complement from how easy spoken he was, but the smirk remained in his tone.

"You'd never let me think otherwise," I sighed, halfheartedly returning a smile as I looked at him.

His eyes widened and he looked away from me instantly. I canted my head in question, not sure if it was safe to ask, but if I had to guess he looked almost flustered. I felt an unfamiliar feeling stir within me and looked away from him as well, fiddling with the hem of my shirt.

"You should go to sleep," he mumbled, his jaw still rested on the tops of his bent knees.

"Right…" I said, slowly shifting to get up.

Something caught my sleeve, and I looked back sending the raven a questioning look at the grip he had on my wrist.

"I—"

I didn't move, waiting for him to fully finish his sentence. He looked away considering his answer, and I felt the hold on my arm slack slightly.

"Here…"

I didn't even have time to mask the astonishment in my voice. "Here?!"

He flinched and recovered by lowering his eyebrows in offense.

"No, on the floor," he said in overthetop sarcasm. "Yes here, what if it comes back?"

My eyebrows raised and my jaw dropped. Was he really asking that?!

"Don't look so surprised! What if it comes back? What am I going to do? Just wake you up again? Not that you haven't been doing that to me every night since I got here." He frantically explained trying to defend himself. "I—!"

"Fine." I sat back down crossing my arms. "I'll stay. On one condition."

His eyebrows shifting in inquiry, but I could see the hope floating in the surprised eyes staring back at me. I could see the way he bit his lip almost with worry as he awaited my response.

"You're staying on that side of the bed." I pointed over to where the second pillow sat untouched.

His shoulders liberated from stress and he crawled obediently over to the farther side of the mattress getting under the covers. He was turned away from me, and I stalled a while before settling in myself.

"It's for the better, anyway," he said with a hint of amusement. "Who knows, maybe you'd try feeling me up in my sleep~."

My face heated up and I knew exactly what he was referring to. With the comment I felt even more restless. "Shut up louse, if anything, you need to keep your hands to yourself," I prompted bashfully, burying my face in the feathery pillow.

"There's no way I'd do anything with you," he chuckled teasingly. "I have standards, Shizu-chan, and the first requirement is being the same human species."

"Yeah, yeah, just go to sleep or I'll leave."

He didn't respond after that, and I finally relaxed when I heard his soft, steady breathing. For the first time in a week, I slept soundlessly without a dream.

In fact, I didn't stir at all until I could feel the rays of the early sun shining in through the window.

I felt like a cat that had curled up in the rays to soak up their warmth. The pillow beneath me was the softest it felt like it had ever been, and I pulled the warmth towards me more, nuzzling my chin into the soft silk under it. My nose twitched when I felt a feather that must have been poking out of the fabric and i tried brushing it away, but when I reached up to brush it away, the feathers were a lot finer than I had imagined. And for some reason the pillow they were coming from was more solid than I remembered.

I pulled away to open one bleary eye to see what the deal was with this pillow, and it took a few seconds for my eyes to focus. It was fuzzy at first, but when my vision cleared, two bright ruby eyes were staring back at me.

"Good morning, Shizu-chan~!" the familiar voice sang merrily.

I jumped at the sound and backed away so much that I fell completely off the bed, taking the sheets with me.

"Th-The hell?!" I panted, horrified, looking up at him with wide eyes.

Izaya laid on his stomach and propped his head up with his hands as he looked down at me smirking. He looked almost feline, his half lidded eyes, still heavy with sleep, managed to look teasing and playful.

"Shizu-chan is quite the cuddler when he sleeps," he smirked.

Fuck, did he really just say that?!

I was utterly mortified that I had been within such a close proximity as him, gripping the soft sheets with a hold that could shred them like paper if I wasn't careful. My heart was still racing from the fall and embarrassment when I realized, "how do I know you didn't put me like that?!" I accused, narrowing my eyes.

"Chill with the animosity, Shizu-chan." He rolled on to his back and looked at me upside down. His dark bangs hung as he stretched his arms behind him. Seriously, was he actually a cat in his former life? "I'm not going to run and tell everyone about it. You should be thankful that I haven't even told anyone about all the wet dreams you have."

"That's not what they are!" I automatically interjected. Well, in technical terms...

"Yes they are," he dismissed me to carry on with a new topic. "Besides, I have a deal to offer."

"A deal?" I huffed in disbelief, raising an eyebrow. What kind of scam was I going to be dragged into now?

"Yes, a deal," he affirmed.

A little curious, but still hesitant, I canted my head to the side. "Keep going," I commanded.

He smiled, if but for only a second before it disappeared into something else; a new mask that I wasn't quite familiar with. He looked down as he began to play with the rings on his fingers. "You see," he began, and my attention was also drawn to the silver bands on each index. "What happened last night was something I never intended for anyone," he looked up at me, "or anything to witness..."

My brows subconsciously furrowed in thought as I tried to recollect the previous night. Since I had been so tired, running on restless sleep for nearly an entire week, the only thing noteworthy this time, was that I actually slept. Aside waking up nuzzling into—

"—Oh my god!" It hit me like a ton of bricks.

The dark haired male sighed deeply, rolling his eyes.

"You were...and...with, w-with me — I"

"Yes, yes, Shizu-chan, I'm very aware of what happened. I'm not the one who needs reminding…" he scolded me, elevating himself once again into a sitting position, turning away from me.

All I could do was sit and stare at him, unblinking. He hadn't fully turned his back towards me and I could see the pink that dusted the cheek of his profile. His silky, black hair had a warm, red undertone in the early morning sunlight that streamed in through the glass behind him. Dark tufts stuck up in sign of bed head on the side he had slept dominantly on, making me consciously run a hand through my own.

The stagnant white noise of rain was still an all too recent in my memory. I could clearly recall every time the flea would let out a yelp and jump at the sound of thunder resonate in the back of my skull.

I shuddered at the mere thought. It was something I wouldn't be able to easily shake off, I didn't want to believe it. I wanted to forget and dismiss the idea altogether...But a small part of me, deep down, cherished that knowledge. It wasn't as though I would use it to my advantage, no, but knowing for myself, that I had witnessed an Izaya that nobody else had seen before...For some sick reason I felt privileged.

"Look, I'll ask nicely," he interrupted me from my troubling thoughts. "If you could please refrain from telling anyone, and forget about it entirely...I won't say a word about the stuff that's been happening with you either," his expression was stoic but I could sense the hint of wariness in the eyes staring back down at me. "Do we have a deal?"

"Deal."

I heard my voice answer before my thoughts could register. Something about this new information was clouding my perception of the man before me.

"Good. Now things can go back to normal," he said, satisfied with my answer and stood up.

"Yeah...but can I at least ask—"

"No questions." He snapped flatly with his back turned to me. His shoulders were tense and his hands had balled into fists.

After a moment I watched him relax and turn to look at me again with a smile. "We're forgetting it ever happened, ne?" There was still something about his aura that left me puzzled. The same expression of hurt and denial, and something else I couldn't quite put my finger on.

We didn't say anything after that. Our morning routines went on as they always did, and the conversation at breakfast was the same as yesterday. Aside from the sudden burst of aggression in his tone from this morning, the louse didn't seem phased at all, carrying on as he would normally socialize. It really was like nothing had happened.

I on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't help but dwell on the few facts I could gather to try to figure him out. A major part of me didn't believe what I had seen that night, and the other part didn't want to believe.

That wasn't the flea...He wouldn't let his guard down like that under any circumstances.

If there was one thing in this world I was certain of, it was that Izaya Orihara had no weakness. He was invincible, as much as I hated to accept it. No matter what the situation had been, all the years that I had known him, that sly smirk and cloy attitude of his never faltered. And I mean that in any of the situations I had seen him in. Anything from the delinquents at school picking a fight with him to talking to obvious members that belonged to the yakuza, Izaya always remained overly confident in himself. It was such a miracle that anyone could go on this long in life without cracking under any pressure. I had always believed that he had something more than just a creepy, sociopathic, panjandrum personality wrong with him. I figured it went a lot deeper than that, but it was a mystery still, whatever it was.

I sat there at the table in thought whilst everyone else talked among themselves. I glanced over at the raven and he looked back up at me. His crimson eyes screamed knowing intimidation, and I averted my gaze quickly. The conversation between the other people sitting with us continued, oblivious to the obvious tension between me and the man sitting farthest down the table.

What I would give to have not seen what I did last night, but it kept replaying over and over in my head, almost like the dreams...

"You coming with us Shizuo?"

"Huh?" I snapped out of my own little world and turned to whoever's voice had addressed me.

"I told you, you have to speak slowly and clearly, Shinra," I heard the flea loudly whisper to the brunette beside him.

My brows furrowed in annoyance.

"Are you coming into town with us today? We wanted to do some more sightseeing and visit some of the shops they have here," he summarized, aware that I hadn't paid a lick of attention to what they had been discussing.

"If we don't go she will do something awful," Kadota whispered so quietly next to me I had to crane my ear to hear him properly. I looked past his shoulder to see the girl next to him smiling as she chatted with her blonde friend.

"Uh, sure?" I said not really wanting to know what he meant by that.

"Great, then it's decided," she clapped her hands. "Everyone meet in the lobby at noon."

After that I kind of zoned out of the conversation, getting lost in my own thoughts again until we left the dining area.

Izaya

An eerie silence filled the room once we returned, neither of us saying a word to the other. It wasn't unusual for the brute to not initiate a conversation with me, per se, but for myself, it was strange not to try to — no...not to want to pester him. An unsettling feeling had found a comfortable spot in the pit of my stomach, and I had felt clammy ever since I talked to the idiot earlier. I hadn't expected myself to snap so easily, but at the very least I had managed to hide the majority of my annoyance ever since. Low and behold I remained feeling entirely humiliated, disgusted even, that that freak of nature had seen me in such a state.

I had decided that I would continue to play it off as though it had never happened. I figured that Shizuo's brain probably couldn't retain much information anyway, so all I could hope for was that he wouldn't care enough to remember.

After getting ready, we met our friends down in the lobby just as we had planned. Erika led the way to one of the town buses that lingered around the entrance of the resort in the carpool lane. I sat by myself, of course, and Shizuo didn't think twice to sit as far away from me as possible.

Remember, nothing ever happened, I mentally chanted.

My few hours of silently moping to myself were done. It was time to return to my normal self so that I could pester the brute to my discretion. That would surely help me get over my unnecessary pettiness.

The bus reached its stop in the middle of the small city and we filed off one by one out into the chilly atmosphere. Erika and Yumasaki turned to us with huge smiles across their faces as they spoke.

"Our first stop is about a block from where we are standing. I have a few places planned for us to visit, so keep up!" No one seemed to protest against the directions as we all followed the peppy girl down the snow-padded sidewalk of the old town. Our first destination, how could I not have guessed, was a manga shop. It wasn't Animate, like back in Ikebukuro, but compared to the other shops around it, the three storey bookstore made it stand out significantly.

When we went inside, the two otakus were almost immediately out of sight. The rest of us were a little less enthusiastic, but dispersed ourselves around expanse of the store. I didn't read manga, but having two younger sisters, I had a general idea of what everything was. I always heard them talking in their special lingo, like it was a separate language from japanese altogether, about "shipping" and things being "canon" and such. Mairu was also especially adamant about me purchasing "adult magazines" for her online, which I refused to do for a plethora of reasons. So to spite me, the two of them chose to do their own research via the internet as a way to pester me with ridiculous stories from "boys love" novels.

As a man, the themes were entirely ludicrous and were obviously written by women for women, which was the main aspect to their harassment that I found annoying. Clearly there was no academic worth behind that kind of writing and it was just promoting false realities to fit their ideals. That didn't seem to matter much to them, however, which only led me to further believe in their poor taste in entertainment. It was sad really, that my little projects were being brainwashed by outside forces when they would have so much more potential if they just listened to me. Ignorance was bliss, I supposed.

I had lost the rest of the group as I wandered aimlessly, walking through aisles that were stacked with hundreds of little books. I must say, for a small town like this, I supposed there wasn't much else to do but read. In comparison to other major cities in Tokyo, there were K-Book's and Book Off's just around every corner, so it wasn't too unreasonable to have a single elaborate book store.

As I headed upstairs, I saw our female friend running around with a stack of manga in her arms, excitedly calling to Kadota who trailed behind her with a bored expression, carrying several more books for his friend. Shaking my head, I continued down an aisle towards the back wall that was decorated with all kinds of colourful, promotional posters for new releases.

It surprised me when I saw Shizuo pick up and flip through the pages of one of the small books. It looked even more tiny in his hands than a normal persons. I glanced up at the category he was under and couldn't help but snicker to myself. Oh, the irony.

"Oh, Shizu-chan~," I cooed, sauntering towards him. "I didn't know you were into that kind of thing?"

He turned to face me skeptically. "What?"

"Yaoi. I didn't know you were into that." I grinned widely back at him when his eyebrows knit in confusion, as if I had just accused him of the unthinkable.

"What the fuck is 'yaoi'?"

I walked over to him slowly, picking up one of the novels with a more exotic cover and thumbed through several pages. "Let's see if this one suits your fancy, ne?"

He stood next me wearily, sort of looming over my shoulder as I skimmed through the pages.

"'Just seems like your average romance novel to me...She doesn't seem to like him a lot, though," he said, skimming through the panels.

"Ah, that's a typical trope in yaoi. The 'tsundere' type." I chuckled at my own expense. The one time I actually applied all the useless information my sisters had shared with me may have finally paid off. "However, there is one more hole in your theory. That girl isn't a girl, Shizu-chan." Upon finding just the right page a few panels after a sloppy makeout session where clothes were being taken off:

"Feast your eyes." I turned the open manga up towards him. He in turn lowered down to examine the artwork. The transition of his expression was absolutely priceless. "When two men love each other..." I began, but was immediately interrupted as he scowled offendedly.

"Oh, gross!" he said dropping the book he was holding and turning away from the one in my hand.

I laughed at him as he wiped the invisible 'germs' from his hands on to his shirt, as I set the book neatly back in its proper place. I simply rolled my eyes.

"Hey guys, we're about to leave," the boy with the long, shaggy hair, Saburo, came up behind us.

The blonde sent me a final glare before he and I followed the brunette downstairs to meet the others finishing at the checkout. Our second destination was a clothing store, then a souvenir shop, and finally, last on the list was a coffee joint right in the center of town. Supposedly it was one of the best in Japan, but I seriously doubted that.

We reached the Coffee House, which smelled amazing upon entering, making my mouth water. When I reached the front of the line, I didn't bother looking at the menu when the server asked for my order. I asked for a simple, medium roast, black coffee, no cream and no sugar, since I hated sweet things. She told me it would be a couple minutes since it was a pour-over. That alone rose the bar for my standards higher, due to the amount of fault that can go into the pour-over method of brewing coffee.

Upon receiving my drink, I wasn't sure if they were just using up the remaining cups from the holidays that were decorated with little snowflakes, or if their cups were themed like this year-round, but didn't think much of it when I took a sip. I was surprised that the coffee was much better than I had originally doubted and happily took another, humming in satisfaction.

I took an empty seat at a two person table by the window and looked out to watch the passersby walking about in the achromatic atmosphere.

I wonder what they're like here…

It had been a week and I hadn't had nearly as many opportunities as I would have liked to do some people watching. This reminded me of how I sometimes would go to Shibuya to the biggest intersection in the world; 'The Scramble' is what they called it. I would sit at the Starbucks on the second floor and observe the mass of people who walked below me. Thousands of bodies crossing at a time. Busy humans going who knows where, doing who knows what; I usually left that up to my imagination.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a chair protesting as it was pulled out from the table in front of me. I was surprised when it was Shizuo who took a seat, holding a glass of milk.

Adorable, I thought sarcastically to myself.

"Ne, as cute as this is, Shizu-chan, I'm calling it now, this isn't a date."

"What? No!" he said quickly looking personally offended.

I shook my head and sighed. "Yes? What is it?"

He was averting my gaze as he began to speak and idly started to drum his fingers against the glass of his drink. "Well uh...I...I didn't want to, um...No, I was wondering if..."

"Use your words, Shizu-chan." I waved my hand for him to continue, chuckling to myself as he tried forming a coherent sentence. His jaw clenched, then relaxed as he tried composing himself.

"Are we...cool?" he asked finally.

I had to admit I was a little taken aback by his question, but settled on letting out another suppressed sigh before answering. "Have we ever really been 'cool', Shizu-chan?" I noticed him bite his lower lip, regretting his choice of words. "If this is what I assume you're referring to then yes, things are fine," I said with as little emotion as I could muster, but in reality, things are not fine, not at all.

"Oh...okay good." Satisfied with the answer, he got up quickly to leave.

"Wait." What had compelled me to call out to him, to engage in another meaningless conversation that I was sure would go no where, I couldn't tell you. I had to stop myself from awkwardly reaching out to him, the same way I had last night. I pulled my hand away quickly, back to its place around my cup. My grip tightened when he turned to me wearing the most puzzled expression.

"Sit." I ordered curtly. Not sure what else to say.

Hesitantly he obeyed and sat back in the chair. We sat in silence as I picked my own brain for what to say to him next. I'm just messing with you Shizu-chan, get the hell out of my face? Do you always get milk to drink when you go out? Why did you ask me your question in the first place?

"So…" I began slowly enough, and I cleared my throat. "How's your family?" I leaned forward holding my coffee with both hands. That was probably the worst thing I could have come up with.

A little surprised at my question, he slowly responded, "they're...fine?" He was just as lost as I was here.

"That's good...And your brother is doing well I assume? I heard he got a pretty important lead in the school play." Why am I even asking. I don't care.

"Yeah...he likes that kind of stuff..." I know.

"And your mother? Does she have a boyfriend now?" I proceeded for no reason. Stop, stop it now.

"Yeah..."

"What do you think of him?" I pressed further into conversation, feeling a bit of a cold sweat under the layer of my coat. It was too invested in it now, I couldn't stop.

"He's cool...I guess...What's with all the family questions?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Just curious. We've been away for some time now, I'm sure they miss you..." Did I just say that? "I mean...if it's even possible to miss a brute like yourself." I scoffed, trying to cover it up. Despite the warmth coming from the drink in my hands, my palms felt clammy and cold.

He shook his head. "And your family? I don't suppose they miss you either."

"You're right, they don't," I said shortly, suddenly interested in the snowflakes on my cup.

"Huh?" Out of the corner of my eye, he looked surprised at my answer.

Mysteriously, I relaxed a little, scoffing. "They didn't even know I was leaving." I looked out the window again at some children playing in the snow as their parents watched, sitting on a nearby bench.

"Seriously?" he asked skeptically, and there was an underlying tone of concern in his voice.

"Seriously." I looked back at him blankly.

"Well that's...unfortunate." he said half apologetically.

That made me chuckle and I relaxed some more. "No kidding...I'm used to it though. My parents were never around for me when I was young. Luckily for my sisters, they have someone like me to look out for them..." I trailed off placing my chin upright in my hand.

"Yeah, because you're the best role model for children," he snorted and I rolled my eyes. "I remember when my dad left my mom it was pretty hard. Not for me and Kasuka, we were pretty young, and never saw him much anyway. But my mom didn't know what to do with herself," he confessed, unfolding his hands around his drink. "It was hard for her to work two jobs and take care of us, but she did it somehow." Looking down, he smiled inwardly to himself in admiration.

I considered the possibility that this was the short version of a story much more complex than just that. I never really thought much of Shizuo's home life. I knew that his father left when he was young, but I guess I had never really bothered to uncover what kind of effect it had on him.

"Why did he leave?" I wondered aloud, and I didn't expect him to answer, but he did.

"He kept cheating on my mom. They got a divorce when I was five. He left her for another woman."

"That's pretty unfortunate too." I frowned, feeling my own pang of frustration for him.

"Yeah, but he was a douchebag anyway, from what I remember. He emotionally abused my mom, and I'll never forgive him for that." Something about the way he said it made me think that I had been overlooking his loyalty to mother and younger brother. I didn't expect them to be so close knit, but it made sense.

"Things are fine now though?"

"Yeah, things are good now. My mom's happy, so that's what matters."

I felt the edges of my lips curl into a small smile. "Good, I'm glad."

We sat unspeaking for a minute, making eye contact occasionally before one of us would break it to sip their drink. I'd never had a problem talking to people before, but this was different. I would start to feel my stomach knot every time I spoke so civilly with him. I took another sip of coffee waiting for some miracle to make the lack of conversation come to end, yet part of me thought to strike up another subject just to relieve the heavy awkwardness that lingered between us. However, my wish was granted when Kadota came over to the table.

"We're gonna head back to the resort now…" he said looking between us in confusion, not fully understanding how or why we were sitting together but not daring enough to ask. "You guys coming?" I'll have to remember that I owe him one.

When we left the coffee place, the sun was setting over the mountains, and by the time we got back to the Inn, it was already dark.

The rest of the night went by quickly. Shizuo and I didn't have another conversation, in fact, he went to sleep almost immediately upon arrival to the room. Well, he was quick to sleep. I on the other hand, lay awake, shivering in cold sheets.

I looked over at the other bed to see Shizuo's arm hanging off the mattress with his mouth parted slightly. He didn't really snore, but he breathed in an annoyingly relaxed and calm manner. Jealousy spiked within me as he looked too peaceful in his sleep, almost like he wasn't a monster at all.

I rolled over away from him trying to settle in my own sheets, when I remembered the night before; how warm I had been in his arms. How safe I had felt, even though it was him. How I had wanted him to stay.

I was so cold...

In my moment of frustration, I pondered how ridiculous I was being, before taking my pillow with me as I crept across the room. For a moment I hesitated, knowing I would regret my decision, but I sat down anyway, anticipating a reaction.

He didn't budge.

I cautiously slipped under the sheets not to stir him, moving as close as I could, but still maintaining a safe distance between us. I could feel the heat radiating from him inches away. Not only did my new source of warmth neutralize the chill off my body, but the sound of his steady breathing lulled me into a tranquil slumber...

Shizuo

It was cold.

For the first time, I wasn't back in a warm, dark room, heated by a body on top of my own. I couldn't feel the pressure of someone holding me down, nor could I smell the bittersweet scent that I had grown to be so acquainted with. Instead, the air was cold and burned my nose. I could feel large droplets of rain pelting my skin, chilling my body.

I opened my eyes, looking up at the grey clouds that were sending tears down to the earth. I noticed I was standing on a street corner in a city. For some reason, I sensed a familiarity of the environment, only there were no lights or brightness of any kind. No passersby or cars racing down the streets, and not a single sound to be heard other than the rain pattering against asphalt and concrete. I was the only one there. The streets and buildings were bare and abandoned. I was surrounded by one big shadow that swallowed everything in sight.

I didn't panic immediately, but it dawned on me that I was completely and fearfully alone.

I don't know what willed me, but my body began walking down the sidewalk with one thing on my mind. It wasn't that I needed shelter from the rain that continued to cascade down, freezing me to the bone in my already drenched my clothes. I didn't feel the need to find somewhere warm to protect me from the weather either. For some unknown reason, the voice in my head kept telling me to look for a light.

And so I did. I walked for what seemed like hours looking for a source of light, only going on because my conscious kept telling me to.

The rain continued to beat down with all it's might, and by now it had turned into a full fledged thunderstorm. It didn't phase me though, I was on a mission that I intended to to go through with.

I followed my gut feeling throughout the city, taking random twists and turns, trying to find any source of light.

I took one last turn and I finally saw, diagonally from where I was standing, a single lamp post that was flickering on and off.

My body relaxed a bit.

It was hard to see through the downpour, but something came into view standing under the light.

A person? Who would be out in this kind of weather?

Then I remembered I was currently out here too.

I squinted to try to get a better look at the figure. They were wearing something like a fur trimmed jacket that looked oddly familiar. I couldn't quite put my finger on who I had seen wearing it before, or if I ever had.

I could tell the figure was a male by his short black hair. He was slender and looked to be shorter than me. I crept over to the edge of the sidewalk getting a better view. A quick flash of lightning struck in the clouds above, and what I saw astounded me.

It was Izaya, standing out in the cold rain.

What's he doing? I wondered.

Thunder sounded from a distance and I looked back up at the sky.

"Shizu-chan..."

It was a faint whisper, but I was certain I heard it.

"Shizu-chan..."

There it was again.

I looked over at the man standing under the lamp, who was staring back at me with a worried look on his face.

"I'm scared..."

And I knew why.

I tried moving my legs forward, but they didn't budge. I was stuck on the other side of the road.

"I'm scared, Shizu-chan..."

I kept trying to run over to the helpless body standing in fright of the storm, but my legs refused to let me.

"I can't move...you have to walk to me," I instructed.

Another crack of lightning hit and was quickly followed by a loud rumble of thunder.

During this time I saw him mouth the words "I can't."

"Yes you can, just walk over to me," I instructed holding my arms out.

He shook his head and inched back holding on to the street lamp.

I motioned for him to come forward again. "Everything is going to be okay, just please come over to me," I encouraged.

He let go of the pole and started slowly walking toward the edge of the curb.

"That's right, Izaya, you can do it," I said, still holding my arms out to him.

He stepped down onto the street and took a couple of steps before the lighting and thunder sounded again.

He kneeled down and put his hands over his ears, shaking.

"I know you're afraid, but I believe in you. Just keep going," I called out.

He got back up again, and took a few steps more until he was on the yellow line the bisected the street when I noticed he started to glow.

"Come on Izaya, just a few more—"

And then I heard it. The roaring engine of a car, lights on, quickly approaching where we were standing.

"Wait! Izaya! Stop!"

But he didn't. He took another reluctant step towards me, ignoring my orders.

"IZAYA! GO BACK! THERE'S A CAR!"

He was looking directly at me, but couldn't hear my screams as he took another step closer.

"IZAYA!"

He didn't pause as the car was closing in the distance between us; it didn't look like it was about to stop.

"IZAYA! NO! IZAYA!"

And the next thing I knew, the blinding headlights of the vehicle engulfed the man's body, and I heard the sound of bones crunching.