[Izaya's POV]

"You have got to be kidding me.." Izaya groaned to himself, face still hovering near the peephole in his door as he glared through it at the debt collector waiting for him. It was only 7 in the morning on a weekday, but already his bad luck had begun. It was only half an hour before he was supposed to meet up with his sisters near Russia Sushi, they're chosen starting point for the day out, and after spending what felt like forever trying to calm himself down, trying to convince himself that today would be fine and that on this day no one that had a death wish on him would find them wandering about, Shizuo had just so happened to show up and dash his hopes again. Just fucking great… he muttered in his head, debating for a moment on whether to open the door or just let him leave on his own.

The second option was very appealing; he wouldn't have to deal with Shizu-chan, could continue on with his morning as planned and just forget about him ever showing up to see him at all, and it would be perfect. But, sadly, the second option also wasn't the most logical one. Knowing Shizuo, the man would wait there for at least an hour before shoving off and by that time Izaya would be irreconcilably late, and even then, it was still a likely option for Shizuo to get tired of waiting and guess that he was, in fact, hiding away inside. If the brute happened to guess that then there was no doubt he would be breaking the lock on his front door to get in and do whatever it was he had planned, which Izaya also didn't want. He'd only just gotten his window fixed from the last incident that had happened in his apartment and he really didn't feel like having to get his locks changed too.

So, despite his hatred of the blond waiting for him, the informant let out a sigh and opened his front door, glare still present as he locked eyes with his 'house-guest'. Everything was silent for a moment as Shizuo took in his impatient expression, seeming a little surprised. "What do you want?" Izaya prompted, getting right to the point as he wanted this over quickly. His bluntness also seemed to surprise the other, even if it did shock him out of his stupor.

A second later, there was a wrist being held in front of Izaya's face, the informant jumping back out of surprise before he looked at it again, noticing that the wrist wasn't attached to either him or Shizu-chan. And after his initial surprise, the informant noticed that instead of only Shizuo being present, the brute had dragged along a companion; a rather small, shaking companion that looked like he wanted to be just about anywhere besides here right now.. It was Chiba Atsushi.

When Izaya realized who Shizuo brought with him, he couldn't very well hide the surprise he felt looking at the kid that had caused such mayhem for them just a little while ago. This kid had caused them to panic, think they were about to die, then think Izaya's own sisters were about to die - sure, the kid hadn't intended that last part, not at all, but it still had them running around like chickens with their heads off.. Despite this, Izaya couldn't think of a very good reason to bring him here, to the place of one of his crimes, when Izaya had decided that the 14 year old wasn't a threat to them anymore. Atsushi hadn't pulled any pranks on anyone at all since the mix up, probably keeping his head low for a while, while he kept a closer eye on supplies or actually deciding to quit entirely now that he'd been caught. So Izaya had assumed that he would never have to deal with the kid again, face to face. Anything he wanted to do to him, the informant could accomplish behind a computer screen quite easily.

And now, Shizu-chan has surprised me once again… he inwardly sighed, frown getting heavier as he looked up at the blond, realizing that since the kid had been shoved towards him, no one had said anything. It was getting kind of irritating.

"Well? What do you want me to do with him?" Izaya asked, eyes moving from his house guest to his surprise guest as they both stood in his doorway. Atsushi shifted uncomfortably where he was forced to stand and Shizuo gritted his teeth for a moment before answering, obviously not happy with Izaya's tone of voice at the moment.

"I caught him on his way to school and thought he should apologize to ya. They aren't my sisters, so.. yeah." the debt collector started to explain, pausing near the end before letting go of Atsushi's wrist, pushing him a bit closer to Izaya instead. The informant took a second to decide whether he should laugh or be pissed off by this; the way the brute was handling this kid was almost like what a pet owner would do to introduce two animals to each other, scooting them together until they either fight or get along swimmingly.

Despite the connotation meaning he was also an animal in the others eyes, he couldn't deny that Atsushi perfectly fit the description of a frightened animal. The poor kid was shaking where he stood, eyes wide and glancing around for a way out, no doubt thinking of the last time they had all seen each other when Izaya had pulled out his pocket knife. Come to think of it, it could be pretty entertaining to pull it out again and see what he does; it was right in his pocket, waiting for him to use it... No, if I scare him again and Shizu-chan gets upset then I'll be here even longer... I think I'm already gonna be late. he reminded himself, forcing the scowl off of his face as he looked to the child.

Izaya held out his hand, showing Atsushi that he was unarmed, before motioning for them to shake hands. "Spit it out then, I have more things to do today than wait for you to find a voice." he prompted, watching as the teenager's eyes widened before he continued shifting, looking unsure of how genuine the informant could really be. He couldn't blame him for that either, what with his record of not being the most... reliable, or truthful, of all people in this city. At least to people who weren't clients of his. Still, the informant didn't move his hand away until the kid finally got some balls and stuck his hand out as well, taking it and shaking hands together as Atsushi gulped down his feelings.

"I-I'm really very sorry about the package.. Are your sisters alright?" the kid choked out, looking up into his eyes for the first time this meeting. Izaya just gave him a nod, forcing a smile onto his face when he decided it would make this go faster.

"Yes, they're both fine. If either of them had gotten a scratch, after all, you wouldn't be standing here~" Izaya announced, grinning now as the kid's calm fell away and he started looking for a way out again. Dumbass. "Thanks for apologizing, even if Shizuo dragged you here. Now run off to school or something, you're definetly late." the informant dismissed, releasing Atsushi's hand before him and Shizuo both watched the child run off, tail between his legs as he got to the elevator down the hall.

When he was out of sight, Izaya turned his gaze back to the blond before him. "Please tell me you didn't stop by just for that."

Shizuo shook his head. "No. Kasuka didn't say anything about not being your bodyguard today, so I was coming over to check. The kid happened to be running passed me on the way here." he explained, Izaya holding in a sigh when he'd mentioned being bodyguard. We're never gonna get around to finding a proper replacement, are we? He grumbled in his head, wishing that he had remembered this yesterday when he'd had all that free time to properly find one. Nothing I can do about it now..

"No, Shizu-chan, I don't need you breathing down my neck today. I'm fine."

"Oh, really? And just what are you doing today that you don't want me to see?"

Izaya raised a brow at that, not expecting for the blond to accuse him of anything. "Nothing that involves you in the slightest. Now, if you don't mind, I'm late for a meeting." the informant replied, excusing himself as he turned and locked the door behind him before leaving the brute, not caring enough to escort him out of the building. Either way, Shizu-chan's probably just going to follow me. Izaya thought to himself, waiting for the elevator as he heard footsteps come up behind him. They stopped just beside him and he didn't bother glancing over, the both of them just getting into the transport and heading to the ground floor together in silence before Izaya's thoughts were confirmed.

Just ignore him and maybe he'll go away.. All I can hope for, really. the informant decided, trailing a blond debt collector behind him as he went on his way to meet Mairu and Kururi.

Chapter 107!

Okay, so I'm not dead and I haven't given up on this series! No need to worry, you guys!

But, just to explain why I haven't updated in a couple days, the short story is that my mom got sick and my dad went on a business trip - so, since I was having finals this week anyway, I got stuck at my grandmas for a few days straight and only got back home last night.

As you know, at my grandparent's house I don't have a computer, so I couldn't use one there, and with everyone taking really long, hard tests at school, there wasn't really a lot of time there either to even write anything - let alone try to post it on here.

So, I hope you guys didn't mind the wait too much and are glad that I'm back to this story~

I really love writing for you guys, so it sucked for me too not being able to get anything up and I'm sorry if this chapter isn't the best either, but I started it before finals began and when I finally got back to it last night.. Well, it's safe to say that my brain has been fried from tests and I had no idea where I had been originally going with this. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with Shinnosu and Dong-Yul though, so I'm gonna try and incorporate that into the next chapter along with getting another chapter full of Mairu and Kururi.

Hope you guys look forward to that ^^

I hope you all liked this chapter! Favorite, follow and review to see more!

PS. Holy shit, for once Shizu-chan didn't leave us with a dramatic cliff-hanger... It's a last-week-of-school miracle!