Chapter 3

Flea

A/N: This whole no reviews thing is scary. Can someone let me know how i'm doing please?

"Hey Nai."

"Um, hey Shinra." She pointed to the fighting Shizuo and the dark haired kid, "What happened?"

Shinra continued to grin broadly, "Nothing."

"Nothing? That definitely looks like something." She set her bag on the grass at the foot of the bleachers, "Who is that anyway?"

"That's Izaya."

"Oh." She finally looked to the young genius, "Who started it?"

Shinra shrugged, "...difficult to say."

Nai laughed and turned back to the fight. It seemed liked the two were really trying to kill each other. She felt bad for the Izaya kid, she'd seen Shizuo chuck his desk across the classroom and it was still only the first week of school. Just as she started to lose interest in the fight she saw the large cut across Shizuo's chest and the glint of the knife in Izaya's hand.

"Crap."

Shinra jumped up from his seat, "Nai! Wait! That's not safe!"

Shizuo chucked the soccer goal even as he saw the girl rushing onto the field. The item was out of his hands and he could only watch as she headed towards Izaya and into the path of the twisted metal.

Izaya giggled as he and the girl both ducked the projectile and went for each other. Metal scraped metal and Nai pushed him away.

The boys merlot eyes twinkled gleefully as he was introduced the business end of the girl's small pistol. "It's bad to bring weapons to school you know."

"Then what do you call that thing?"

Izaya twisted the blade between his fingers, "Well..."

Nai narrowed her gaze at him, "I don't like you."

He laughed, his cheeks even going as far as tinting pink with the effort, "That's too bad."

Nai looked around the spotless condo, it was void of any real personality, but it was very swank, "Looks like you've moved up in the world since I left."

Izaya flopped down on the couch and opened a waiting takeout box, "I'm very good at what I do Nai-kun. I know a lot of things. Like where you've really been."

"Who the hell told you that?"

"I have my sources."

"How much am I gonna have to pay you to keep you quiet?"

His grin spread smoothly across his face, "Nothing."

Nai plopped down next to him with a scoff and noticed the bottle of wine amongst the white boxes. "Thanks."

"Of course Nai, anything for you."

She noticed the dropped honorific and smiled a bit to herself but the informant saw it, "You like me don't you?"

"No. Not ever."

Izaya studied her profile as she pulled out her phone and checked the time. She turned to him to say something and he smiled. She raised a brow, "What?"

"Let's get started shall we?"

"Yeah, lets do this. I have somewhere to be."

There was a moment of silence as he finished up what he had been eating and stood to walk across the condo to the huge window behind his desk. "You actually missed all the excitement Nai-kun." The honorific was back, "Minor gangs are a thing of the past."

"Hm, no color gangs..." Nai joined him at the window, "What about the Dollars?"

"They had a clash with the yellow scarves a while ago, nothing from them since. The majority of the gang is everyday citizens of Ikebukuro, nothing serious."

"And these yellow scarves...I've seen a few brats in yellow around the city."

"Posers. Harmless." Izaya sat in his chair and spun once, twice, "The city is yours for the taking Nai-kun."

She sighed, "If only it was that easy. No matter how everyday and ordinary these people are, they're in a gang and the other families are not happy."

"Let me guess. The problem has been handed over to Nai-kun to fix?"

Nai glared at Izaya, "This could get ugly, you could at least be a little helpful."

"I'm not in the business of saving lives Nai-kun... and neither are you."

The woman hung her head a bit, he was right. "Whatever, what about these slashers? The stories sound like they belong around a campfire."

Izaya lent back in his seat, "Mindless zombies."

"You're not funny."

"My dear Nai-kun, what reason do I have to lie to you?"

Nai stared at him for a moment then shook her head, "We'll have to finish this later."

"My payment?"

The woman had already been headed for the door and she stopped by the table and turned her face up to the ceiling. Sighing before turning to the informant with a smirk, "Your money should be in the account already." She picked up the unopened wine bottle and waved lazily over her shoulder, "Goodnight Izaya."

Izaya smirked delightedly at the flashing deposit in his account, "So much for getting her body."

"Hey." Shizuo looked up at Nai and she smiled. He scoffed and she threw back her head and whined, "I'm sorry ok?"

The blonde put out his cigarette and motioned to the open spot on the bench next to him. He eyed the wine bottle in her hands as she sat down. "What's that?"

"A gift, hoping you'll forgive me."

"Hn."

"Shizuo, you knew I was going away for school."

He sighed and took off his glasses, turning his brown eyes to her. "Didn't say goodbye."

Nai offered him the bottle, "Can you forgive me Heiwajima?"

"Whatever."

The woman watched him drink the wine and also eyed his outfit. The bartender look was nice, interesting, but nice. "So who inspired the clothes?"

"Kasuka. It's a long story."

He looked to her as she smiled, a big, bright, smile. She reached out to adjust his collar and patted his shoulder as she pulled her hand away, "I have five years to make up."

So he told her, he went all the way through his many jobs after high school and how Izaya ruined the best one he had for him. "Kasuka was proud of me." He'd said, "And the flea ruined it." Nai hadn't realized her fists were clenched until Shizuo nudged her with his elbow, "It's okay."

"Hm."

They sat in a comfortable silence before Nai checked the time on her phone. "I have to go."

As she stood to walk away Shizuo looked her over, noticing the pistol tucked in the back of her pants, "Those men that were killed..." The blonde called out.

"I followed orders Shizuo."

"You killed them?"

Nai tried her best to tame her expression before turning to look at her high school friend, "No."