'Dammit!' Shizuo found himself pacing furiously infront of the door to the MANAGEMENT building, growling under his breath. It's been hours since Izaya shut himself in, or it felt that way anyway. There was no way for him to tell, honestly. Fate had left, or disappeared rather. It was gone when Shizuo had turned around, all trace of the strange being nowhere to be seen.

"Dammit!" He yells, whirling around to attempt to pull the door open with a furious series of tugs. Izaya hasn't made a peep the entire time he's been there, and no matter how closely he presses his ear to the wall, he can't pick up breathing noises. "Izaya open the door already!" He shouts.

He opts for banging on the doors again, no longer surprised by the fact that his body doesn't tire. He's starting to realize he doesn't need to breathe, either, which might be why he hasn't picked up anything from Izaya. Still, the strained inhales of anger help, although another thought tells him there's no point in controlling his anger here. He can't hurt anyone, or do any damage, even if he wants to.

And looking up at the damn building hiding Izaya, he really wishes he could.

"Fate," he bites out the name like a curse, and supposes in a way that it is. "Get me a shovel!"

The mysterious being comes up behind him, and extends a shovel with one of its many arms. He snatches it, rude in his anger, and starts digging right where the dirt meets the walls of Izaya's prison. He keeps going for a few minutes, frustrated to find that each shovelful of dirt scooped from land disappears, fresh dirt materializing in the hole.

"Fucking hell!" He slams his fists against the door, and as soon as he does it's being shoved open. He falls back a few steps as Izaya pushes the door open the rest of the way to smirk at him.

"You were so desperate you decided to tunnel under?" He laughs, eyes brighter and happier than they'd been a few hours ago. "What would you have done about the floor? Hmm?"

"The fuck is wrong with you," he hisses angrily, clenching his fists and forcing them to stay by his side. Much as he wants to, he can't hurt Izaya here, and trying would only amuse the vile man further.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're getting at," Izaya says coyly, tilting his head and placing a hand upon his hip for his typical theatrical effect. "I'm perfectly sane."

"I didn't question your sanity, flea. It's obvious you're batshit insane," he steps forward, throwing the shovel aside, "I just want to know why the hell you locked yourself in there, you fuckin lunatic!"

And I," Izaya growls right back, much less composed in the afterlife. Nothing to lose, maybe? "I just want to know why the hell you care?" He parrots right back, stepping forward as well so they're face to face, chest to chest, dick t-uh, foot to foot.

"Because," he pauses here, eyebrows drawing on confusion. Why did he care, exactly?

"You don't have an answer," Izaya laughs cruelly, getting right in his face with no restraint. "You don't know why!"

"No I fuckin don't, okay? What's it matter anyway," He drawls, irritated. Izaya's fingers twitch as he crosses his arms across his chest, scowling at him. Shizuo is sure he'd have a knife embedded somewhere by now, if Izaya had any on him. Then again, who's to say he didn't…?

"You're an idiot," he's informed.

"You're a bastard," he informes right back.

"You care-" Izaya pauses to raise his eyebrows, a look of faux astonishment dawning sarcastically over his expression. He puts his hands up, eyes going wide. "-because we're soulmates!" He gasps, again sarcastically, as if to suggest he was pointing out something obvious that Shizuo should've understood. It was obvious, and he did understand, though.

"I know that, you sarcastic little shit! Four arms over there already told us that!" He gestures to Fate, who looks entirely unoffended and uncaring.

Izaya crosses his arms again and waits, practically tapping his foot as he waits for Shizuo to make some unseen connection. Not that there's anything to connect, of course. They're soulmates apparently, yeah, so what? That didn't mean anything.

Being in this false paradise was making them both a little crazy, he thought. With Izaya being so open with his emotions, so desperate for them to stay near each other be it life or death. Shizuo actually concerned with Izaya's feelings, enough so that he felt the need to do something nice by trying to break into MANAGEMENT to get his life back, the way it drove him crazy that Izaya was locked up in that building, all alone in the dark…

"Oh, fuck," He groans, dragging a hand down his face roughly. "We're soulmates." He can practically feel Izaya imagining a lightbulb going off above his head, and it pisses him off immensely.

"Now you understand." Izaya's still smirking as he abruptly leans on his tiptoes to wrap his arms around Shizuo's neck. "Let's just...test this out," He coos, pressing his lips to Shizuo's. From the corner of his eye, Shizuo doesn't close them, he sees Fate clap it's four hands one eye stops it's rapid movement to watch them intently, waiting for something.

There aren't sparks. His chest tingles, a little, but his stomach drops. As they kiss, staring at each other the entire time, all Shizuo can think about are the things Izaya's done. The lies, the pranks, the anger, the pain, all the times he's been fired or stabbed or mocked by this man with eyes like rust and a smile with the burning intensity of a wildfire. Izaya pulls back, hands slipping from his shoulders, and Shizuo can tell he feels the same way he does.

He hates him.

"...You are not ready." Fate glides forward as Izaya steps back, running the back of his hand over his mouth with a disgusted grimace. He's covering up his disappointment; Shizuo knows because he's doing the same, disappointed with the man he could have loved if it weren't for years of bitterness between them.

"No," Izaya agrees. "No, we certainly are not." The two men and third genderless being stand in silence as the sun sets slowly, casting brilliant shadows upon them all. The air is still, the stars so clear in the daylight with the absence of an atmospheric sky, and he tries not to feel absolutely crushed.

A partner, someone you can trust and love and comfort and be comforted by. Your best friend, your lover, your soulmate...and his was Izaya Orihara. If things had been different, if they had another chance, then maybe… but not like this. At least, not anytime soon. He laughs bitterly, knowing they have all of eternity to build a proper relationship, but honestly...he doesn't want to.

"Well," Izaya spins on his heel to adress Fate, and with just a glance he can see Izaya's battling with many different emotions, fighting hard to put up any kind of facade in a hell that won't allow it. "What now?" His voice breaks a little, and he whips his head to the side, away from Shizuo. Shizuo doesn't blame him.

"You try again," comes the answer. "Until you are ready for your afterlife, together."

"...Shizu-chan?" Izaya glances at him, eyes dry but not without shadows. He's clearly waiting for Shizuo to agree or disagree, the first and last time he'll ever care about his opinion.

At least, the first and last time in this life.

"Fine. Just, give me a few," he sighs.

"How much time would you like?"

"An hour?"

"Very well." Fate glides off, and Shizuo doesn't look at Izaya as he goes to sit on the hill, alone.

It's apparently already been an hour, though it doesn't feel like it. Izaya is standing behind him, arms folded behind his back and a smile gracing his features. Fate is waiting to send them back to Earth. He stands with a sigh, letting go of the Dandelions in his hand and watching them fall to the ground without a sound.

"Alright," He and Izaya head to the tree where Fate awaits them with the same lack of emotion it's always possessed. "How're we gonna do this? You gonna let us wake up in the hospital or…?"

"No." The wind, the same wind he has no explanation for, picks up and rustles the grass and their clothes and hair. "You will be starting new lives."

"Aww," Izaya whines, sticking his bottom lip out like a child. "So much hard work, all for nothing! Didn't you say we could go back to our old lives?"

"Too much time has passed. Your bodies have been in the ground and rotting for decades, on Earth."

"It's only been a few days," Shizuo protests, frowning.

"There it very little impression of time here," Fate says calmly. "It would be maddening if there were."

"Can I request to keep my beautiful face?" Izaya requests playfully. "And Shizuo's, too. I quite like that beastly scowl."

"Things must change."

"Yeah, yeah, okay some things can change, but can't I just keep my face?" He whines again, and Fate seems to pause and consider this. Finally, with a nod, it seems to agree.

"Very well." Its arms straighten out, two pointed at Izaya and two pointed at Shizuo. He starts to feel scared, at his very core, when he considers starting from scratch.

"You never told us," he chokes, body starting to tingle and warp painlessly. "Why am I in heavy black and he in free white?" He's referring, of course, to his pants and long sleeved shirt and Izaya's shorts and tank top. "Shouldn't it...shouldn't it be the reverse?" Izaya laughs shakily to his left, and Shizuo closes his eyes tightly as he becomes overwhelmed by the buzzing zipping through his entire body.

"The clothes here take on the feelings of the wearer, and their actions before eternity." Ah, that's so fuckin nice. Because Shizuo killed Izaya, and was feeling awful about his life in general, he's in these clothes. He kind of wants to hit the other man for apparently feelings so pure and free, in his stupid detergent commercial white clothes. They were probably sponsered by Tide too, the fucker. There's a gasp, high pitched and disbelieving, that beckons him to open his eyes.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Where Izaya once stood there's a woman, with shoulder length black hair and mischievous red eyes. Redder than Izaya's, and brighter, too.

"Oh, you shitty little pest!" Shizuo exclaims, trying to ignore the new pitch of his own voice. And the fact that his chest feels heavier, crotch lighter, and shorter all around. "You just had to ask to keep our faces!"

"I didn't think these-" Izaya gestures at his, or rather, her new chest accessories, "-would be the changes, okay!?" Izaya exclaims, voice a mix of astonishment and angered disbelief.

"Fuck you," Shizuo gasps, for lack of anything else to say.

"Would you rather we stay here?" Izaya demands, and Shizuo laughs over uncomfortable feelings of his insides rearranging themselves and transforming to that of a woman's.

"I'd rather live than be with you," she jokes, biting her lip at Izaya's laugh. It's lighter, prettier than the male versions. 'Oh god I'm going to be a raging lesbian. And with my temper, I mean that literally!'

"Do we at least get to pick our names?" Izaya asks curiously.

"Yes, and no. I decide your last names and the people to whom you're born. You decide your first names." Fate is starting to look larger- actually, everything looks larger. Or is Shizuo...getting smaller?

"Kanra!" Izaya exclaims happily, voice just a touch higher, and Shizuo realizes she has a younger appearance than before.

"Very well. I give you the last name Himoto, meaning Crimson Origin."

"Oh well that's kind of obvious, isn't it?" Izaya sighs.

"And you?" Fate turns to her expectedly.

"Er...what the hell, Shizuka," Shizuo sighs, uncaring.

"...alright. Then I give you the last name Shimoto, meaning Pure Origin."

"Again, a little on the nose," Izaya points out, and goes ignored. She's a child now, and regressing faster than before. Shizuo, or rather, Shizuka realizes her vision is starting to flicker in and out. The world tilts as she grows smaller, and she takes a few moments to attempt remembering what brought her.

Ah, that's right it was Izaya. Up to no good as usual, wasn't he? There was a device...Shizuo was hunting him down. He was planning something, right? Everyone was so scared… he chased him into the building, and it crumbled under his strength.

Down down down it fell, fell like she is now, falling screaming in a hospital blanket, covered in fluid and regret. The imagine of the afterlife is fading rapidly, all coherency sucked away like Fate itself is leeching it off of her. She won't remember her life before, and who's to say there weren't more before? She's completely and utterly unprepared for all the things that await her now.

Somewhere in Ikebukuro, in a lone woman's labor room a baby is born, and it's very first thought, the very first thing it thinks before it loses the ability is...

'Ah, fuck.'

Heeeyyy! So, you might be a little bit worried about this BUT DON'T WORRY! It's not over yet! The next part is a different story of mine, already started, called Cliché Is The Flavor Of The Day ;)