Chapter 22

Down The Rabbit Hole

A/N: Sorry for the wait, but the story gets so exciting from here. Now that human emotions and all other sorts of setbacks have happened to Nai I'm bringing DRR's supernatural elements into play finally. Should be fun. *giggles* You guys are going to hate me...

"So you're going to fix it?"

Nai sat on the couch with her head in her hands and spoke into the floor, "Go away Izaya."

Namie scoffed as she set tea down in front of the other woman and said low, "Good luck."

"Namie please." Izaya spoke to the woman with mock sweetness and handled her eye roll rather well. He watched her gather her things and clenched a fist to himself when the door closed behind her.

"Did you lie to him?" his focused returned to the ex-heiress.

"No. I can fix this. I can."

"You don't sound so sure kitten."

The woman looked at him. Her expression made him raise an eyebrow as his fur-hooded coat slid off his shoulders, down his arms, and into his hands, "You're serious."

"Why wouldn't I be serious?"

"Isn't this what you wanted? To not be involved in the mess of the families and to just be you? I mean, you'll still be yakuza but you'll be free of responsibility and free of all the little eyes that are normally on you."

"That used to be what I wanted…"

"Have you changed your mind so quickly? Have you seriously decided just now that is was time to handle your responsibilities?"

His condescending tone wasn't helping the fact that he had a very valid point. Nai couldn't decide what she really wanted. Now she could. She wasn't going to let her father ban her from her home and separate her from his lifelines, her friends. She reached for the tea and tilted her head at the slip of paper attached to the tea-bag.

Izaya sat next to her, leaning back on the couch and stretching his arm out behind where she was sitting, "Well Nai-kun?"

She was still examining the tea and barely answered, "I can't just sit here."

"Sure you can."

"No. I can't." The paper tag detached and she held it in a closed fist. She felt Izaya lean forward to get a better look at her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm thinking." she answered harshly, "I have to figure out what to do."

He chuckled, "For a minute there I thought you were crying or something."

Nai put the tea down, some of it sloshed onto the table and she stood. "Just leave me the fuck alone Izaya. I don't plan on staying here."

"Oh really?"

She glared at the young girl who decided to wander into the living room. The glare moved the girl out of her way but she looked over her shoulder to address the information broker first, "Yes. Really."

"Celty? What's going on with you?"

Her shoulders slumped. Celty had still been having odd dreams. Snippets of conversations, flashes of color…

"Shinra, how much do you know about what I am?"

"My personal opinion is that you are in fact a dullahan from old irish folklore, but you could very well be a valkyrie of some sort."

"What's the difference?"

The doctor adjusted his glasses and smiled at her, "Why are you so interested all of a sudden?"

She wrung her hands nervously. "I guess I've been wondering if my head is capable of doing anything without my body."

"Oh Celty, I thought you'd given up on your head."

Her shoulders slumped and she moved to the white couch and took a seat, resting her elbows on her knees; and if she could have, her head in her hands. "I never really gave up on it. How can I? It's part of me; although lately I think it might be a thing all on it's own."

"Why is this bothering you?"

"I think my head may be awake somewhere, watching and listening to what's happening around it." Shinra rubbed his chin in thought and Celty watched him nervously. "I thought my head could control whether I live or die. But now i'm almost sure my head can do whatever it wants without my body, or bend my body to it's will."

"You asked me the difference between a dullahan and valkyrie. A dullahan's head speaks the name of a person who will die and the body reaps the soul. A valkyrie is about the same, except it chooses a warrior, usually within the throws of a great battle or war, then takes this warrior off to heaven or Valhalla. But most times, the warrior can only go to Valhalla after wining the war."

Celty had been hanging on Shinra's every word. "And if the warrior looses?"

"I don't know."

What if. What if Celty's dreams were her head awakening for war? The last she checked, her head was with Yagiri pharmaceuticals. But Yagiri had been bought out, "Do you know where my head is now Shinra?"

"Unfortunately I don't. I don't think Yagiri would have held onto it after the takeover. But I doubt they'd have handed it to Nebra Corp."

Celty got up from the couch, right now. She was pretty sure that all she could do was wait. There was nothing she could do to stop whatever was going to happen if anything were to happen at all. She flashed the doctor her phone, "Thanks anyway. Hey, where are you three going?"

The three students looked up at the woman and froze. Mikado smiled nervously, "We're going to go get sushi."

They waited, holding their breath, as Celty surveyed them. Shinra waved his hand in dismissal, "Go ahead. Just be careful. I don't want a bullet to the face from Nai-chan if something happens to you three."

The teens exhaled and hurried out the door, "We'll be fine!"

"There's something interesting on the bookcase." ~Namie

Interesting on the bookcase? Nai sunk into the tub until the water bubbled around her nose. What the hell would there be to look for on the dozen or so bookcases in this apartment?

"Where are you going?"

"I was going to grab some Sushi with Masaomi."

Izaya's chuckle sounded from the hall, "I don't think thats a good idea right now."

"But Izaya…"

There was silence until there was a knock on the door.

Nai rolled her eyes, "What?"

"Saki here wants to go see your precious blonde boy! Is that ok with you?"

"Whatever."

"Well it sounds like you can go. Have fun~!"

Nai could tell that Izaya hadn't moved from directly outside the bathroom door. He was probably standing there grinning. She sighed and stood, dripping water all over the floor before grabbing a towel and opening the door, "Yes?"

Izaya eyeballed her wet honey skin and smirked, "You've been pretty quiet all evening. Hungry?"

"No."

He laughed, "Sure. I'll go get us some takeout okay? Fatty tuna?"

Nai narrowed her eyes on him and he whistled as he walked out to the living room and grabbed his coat. Her gaze wandered around the bookshelves and she knew she couldn't fathom the pages upon pages of information within them. She shivered, Izaya sure did keep the AC pumped in this place.

"I'll be back soon~! Feel free to stay naked for when I return~!"

Nai scoffed just as the door closed the gangster turned sharply head back to her temporary room for some clothing.

But she stopped.

She was alone in here for at least twenty minutes. More than enough time to follow Namie's breadcrumb.

"Masaomi!"

"Saki!" Masaomi waved the girl over to the table and she joined him and his friends, "Is Nai alright? How is she doing?" the blonde pushed.

The girl immediately closed off to him and turned her head away, "You could just instant message her yourself. That's not why I came out you know."

Mikado looked to soothe the tension, "He's just worried about her. We all are."

"Whatever. She's a total bitch and a hard ass."

Masaomi ignored her comment. Nai wasn't too fond of Saki either so it wasn't like he could tell her there was no reason to dislike the woman. "I'm sorry Saki, but she's the only family I have here."

"Then why wasn't she here with you for the past four years?"

The blonde frowned, "That's unfair."

Saki opened her menu with a huff. "I just don't get it, I don't get her."

Anri shuffled in her seat nervously, "I don't think anyone does."

The table fell silent and the teens could all only look at each other. Nai Hagane was a mystery to them, the yakuza was a mystery. All the rules in effect and pieces at play in their city were completely foreign to them. It was a level beyond what they thought they knew.

"Smile friends! Sushi no make you sad. Sushi make you happy!"

The teens looked up at the man, each of them forcing enough of a smile to put Simon at ease. But it wasn't an easy feat to fool Simon. People tend to forget that he sees and hears everything. "No mess in Yakuza business." he spoke lower, his accent less apparent, the Japanese almost perfect.

The children's eye's widened, each one of them regaining their innocence in the gaze. Simon subtly nodded his head to a booth a few rows down. Two men in suits sat quietly, obviously straining to listen.

"Eat! Eat!"

They all looked at each other as the man walked away. Mikado took a deep breath, "Guys, we might be in serious trouble."

"Dammit. There's nothing on these fucking bookshelves!"

Nai dropped yet another useless binder onto the floor; the rings snapping open on impact and papers spilling all over the floor. She looked out over the rest of the flat from the loft space and eyes the three shelves down below. Smaller than the other shelves, and of course closer to Izaya's desk.

She probably should have checked those first.

The woman didn't bother picking up the binders shed dropped on the floor. She was running out of time, Izaya had been gone for the twenty minutes she thought she had so who knew when he'd be back with that stupid grin on his face asking what she was looking for.

She didn't even know.

Nai flexed her fingers as she approached the shelves and ran her eyes across them. Lots of familiar names on these shelves, people she figured Izaya would be watching. There were binders upon binders of the teens, Shizuo, Tom, Kadota, her cousins, herself…

All neatly tucked into the shelf, packed so tightly you could hardly fit a sheet of paper between them. Except one spot where the binders were turned wight the broadside facing out, and just above them the silver lid of what appeared to be a jar.

Nai was amused, "The hell?" she chuckled and reached for the shelf, "Wouldn't surprise me if it was someone's…" She stared at the head floating in the green liquid as she moved the binder, "…head in a jar."

She actually was surprised.

The woman gently took the jar down from it's perch. The head floated harmlessly, peacefully, and Nai was almost entranced by it's foreign beauty. …at least she wash entranced until it opened it's eyes and almost immediately said her name. Clear and dark, "Nai Hagane."

Nai shrieked and dropped the reliquary, stepping back only to feel a presence behind her. She whirled, "Celty?"

The scythe whistled as it came at her and she didn't even feel her own hands reach up to keep her head from falling off her neck.