Shizuo wasn't sure how long they were running, but soon the trio was far away from the arcade, and panting against the side of a building near the edge of the city.

The look on their faces when they noticed the flea, was something short of shock and…something else he couldn't read. It made him wonder why they were running. Did Izaya do something to them? Was he really that cruel to harm his sisters? The idea of the twins being hurt by their older brother made Shizuo seethe.

His hands clenched around the edge of the building, and crushed the concrete into rubble in his hands. He heard two bursts of laughter beside him, and blinked out of his rage and watched the twins as they slid to the floor. Clutching their sides, they bent over in hysterical laughter, leaning against each other for support. Shizuo dropped the rubble in his hands and sat down next to them, waiting until they caught their breathe.

"N-neh neh, Shi-Shizuo-kun! Did you see the look o-on his face? So priceless!" Mairu choked out, tears wet with tears as she gasped for air. Kururi nodded, a wide smile on her face as she laughed quietly; her shoulders quivering with every breath taking laugh.

"Nii-san…surprised." the quieter twin gasped, still chuckling a bit.

"So you guys aren't running from Izaya because of something he did?" Shizuo questioned as he lent out his hands for them to grab onto. He pulled them up to their feet.

"Nii-san….do something?" Kururi asked, completely confused. Mairu laughed again and shook her head.

"No way. Izaya might be a pain in the neck, and he might be a tight ass. But he's a good brother. He always looks out for us. If he didn't care, he wouldn't have found us." Mairu stated as walked toward a small shop tucked away between another building and an alley.

"So…that's why you kept running? Even after he found you guys?" Shizuo questioned as he stood up from the sidewalk, following behind the bubbly girls.

"Mmhmm! Because we like to know that he really does care. Because we care about him too! And if he went missing, and we though he could probably get hurt; we'd look for him too." She turned and grinned widely, arms behind her back, "Unless it was against you! We always cheer you on! Oh! And if we had to choose between Iza-nii and Yuuhei. We'd always choose Yuuhei!"

"Love…Nii-san. But…Yuuhei…and Shizuo-kun…better." Kururi agreed, skipping ahead to walk side by side with her sister.

Shizuo couldn't help but feel relieved, knowing that the flea wasn't somehow causing them pain. And it kinda flustered him knowing that they would so easily choose one of the Heiwajima's over their own brother. But, knowing that these two, mostly innocent, girls weren't in some sort of family abuse due to Izaya's antics made him happier. The more he thought about it, the more strange it seemed; Izaya caring for his sisters so much. It seemed out of character, and it completely baffled Shizuo.

Maybe Izaya had a softer side?

He laughed and shook his head, "No way."

"Shizuooo-kuuun!~" Mairu sang, stopping in front of the shop.

"Icecream?" Kururi asked, pointing to the sign. Shizuo walked over, hands in his pockets and read the sign. Buy one get on half off.

The blonde shrugged, "Sure, why not. I'll pay, you guys just go and choose what you want."

The twins cheered and pushed open the door, causing the small bell to ding softly to announce their presence. They ran inside, quickly rushing up to the counter and looking at all the flavors, while Shizuo slowly followed, glancing at the menu.

"A strawberry swirl sure sounds good…"

Shizuo reached into his pockets and pulled out the cash in his hand. He frowned when he saw that he didn't have enough for three cones, but he should have enough for two. He smiled and bit and shrugged; more for the girls.

He walked up behind them, handing the rest of his money over the counter to the woman behind the register, as another worker piled up ice cream on two cones for the twins. The giggled softly to themselves, murmuring whatever girls like to murmur about as the got their cones.

Mairu and Kururi skipped over to a small table in the back, sitting on the tall barstools and kicking their feet lightly. Mairu took to spinning back and forth on the stool as she languidly licked her vanilla cone. Kururi spent more time slowly flicking off the sprinkles and letting each one melt in her mouth, hardly paying attention to the dripping chocolate on her fingers.

Shizuo sat on the third stool, closest to the wall and leaned back; arms crossed over his chest as he watched the twins enjoy their sweets. He couldn't help but smile a bit as he looked around the familiar ice cream shop. He and Kasuka came here from time to time; Shizuo ordering a strawberry swirl, and Kasuka a caramel cone.

He missed being a kid; living day by day without any problems. Taking care of his younger brother when things got tough. Being with the twins helped him remember those good moments. Of course, these were Orihara's he was dealing with. And as much fun as they may seem, there is always a catch.

"Hey, Mairu."

"Hmm?~" she mewled, sucking on the tip of her ice cream with a small smile. Shizuo was slightly…confused by the look on her face. She sometimes resembled her older brother perfectly, and other times seemed like she had nothing to do with him.

"Earlier you said that the flea had some files or something."

She immediately perked up and nodded, "Oh, those! Yep, he's got files on everyone he runs into and finds interesting. I'm sure he even has files on Kuru and I! But we haven't been able to find them yet. I'm sure he's hid those super deep in his system."

"So why was mine so easy to find?" Shizuo wondered, tapping his fingers along the table top as he thought. Mairu giggled, causing Shizuo to glance back up at her.

"That's cause your file was the one that was recently edited and saved."

"Yesterday (he must have added) more information (on you)." Kururi added, finally realizing that her hands were slowly being covered with sticky ice cream, and started to lick at the sides in a frantic manner to clean her mess.

"What the hell type of stuff could he add, if he already knows everything about my life…at least, that's what you said." Shizuo added briefly, feeling his skin crawl at the idea of the flea knowing every detail about his personal life.

Mairu shrugged, "It was mostly stuff about what happened a few weeks ago. The whole thing about that incident where he kicked dirt in your face and laughed," Shizuo twitched a bit and growled at that fact, "actually, Iza-nii wrote it in great detail. He's pretty good with how he words things. It sounded more like a novel than a file on someone."

The blonde sighed, "The flea always got high grades in those classes. He used to rub them in my face to piss me off. I'm not surprised he'd continue doing that."

Both of the twins glanced at each other for a moment, and giggled. Shizuo blinked and stared at them as they stopped again and took another lick of their cones.

"Anyways, the newest stuff he just added was about you being sick. It worries us too. We don't want you to die or anything; we like you too much for you to die." Mairu stiffly said, staring hard at the melting ice cream. Kururi nodded solemnly as well, her doe eyes slightly glistening.

Shizuo swallowed the lump forming in his throat and reached over, resting his hands on their arms. He smiled reassuringly when they glanced up, "I'm not going anywhere. This…thing I have isn't gonna kill me."

"But it's so hard to get past cancer!" Mairu cried out, squeezing her cone tightly, crushing the sugar cone and forcing the ice cream to ooze out of the cracks. Kururi flinched and glanced back at her cone, taking another tentative lick.

Shizuo froze, eyes widening. His hands trembled slightly, and he was sure the twins could feel his surprise.

"C-cancer? He had…cancer on the file?" he whispered, staring at them for answers. Neither looked him in the eyes, but they did shift their gaze toward him a bit. It frustrated Shizuo, that they wouldn't talk.

"Mairu! Kururi! What did that file say?"

He didn't mean to sound so harsh, so to make them flinch with his sudden ferocity. He didn't want to frighten them, but most of all, he didn't want to become a monster.

With a sigh, he pulled his hand away and rubbed his forehead. "Guys, I'm sorry. I just wanna know. What was on that file?"

Mairu and Kururi glanced at each other for a moment, before hopping off their barstools to throw out the rest of their ice cream. They no longer felt very hungry. They hopped back onto their chairs and swung their legs back and forth during the moment of silence. Soon, Kururi broke the silence.

"Nii-san…wrote…theories." she forced out, her small voice hardly noticeable beyond the small ding of the bell on the front door, and the idle chatting between customers and employees.

"Yeah…he rambled a lot. He actually made a typo or two, as if he was shaky. He went on like 'I never knew a monster like Shizu-chan would get such a deadly disease' and 'If he survives this, I'll be amazed'. He also mentioned stuff how he really couldn't believe you could get it. Or that it would affect you. But he can't think of anything else that could be wrong. Said he checked up on site and researched. Nothing seemed to make sense. But he also mentioned that 'after hours of searching, he was too tired to continue one, and doubted he would find much else. But he couldn't stop yet'."

Shizuo swallowed and shivered a bit, as he hunched over and rested his head in his hands. Cancer. He couldn't believe it. He just could not accept that fate. He shook his head and groaned a bit, and felt a light touch on his arm from Kururi.

"H-hey Shizuo-kun…he…Iza-nii did say that he could be wrong. That it is only a theory." Mairu tried to offer. Seeing Shizuo so visible distraught…it was eerie and neither of the twins liked it.

He shook his head and glanced up, his honey eyes looking more tired than before. The weight of this…plausible diagnosis was crushing his spirits of getting better.

"Izaya…he's smart. I'm sure that he's right. He's always right, isn't he? Hell, he's even right about me being a monster…"

"You're not a monster!" Kururi yelled, slamming her fists on the table. Both Shizuo and Mairu jolted up and stared at her outburst, as Kururi's glazy eyes hardened and shined with determination.

"You're…you're better…not a monster." She paused and took a deep breathe, "You won't go away."

Mairu nodded and smiled, "Yeah! You're too strong to let anything take you down! And too cool too! I'm sure Iza-nii was just being stupid. He does have his moments. Besides, we would rather him have the cancer than you, right Kuru?"

Kururi chuckled softly and nodded. The ill blonde blinked a bit, surprised by their blatant dislike for their brother. Their views on the informant seemed to fluctuate depending on the mood of the conversation. Either way, seeing that they cared so openly about Shizuo…it warmed his heart and raised his spirits.

"Hey."

Two pairs of brown eyes peered up at him as he smiled, reaching out to ruffle their heads.

"Thanks for following me around. You two aren't so bad after all."

The two girls were stunned for a moment, before grinning widely from ear to ear. Shizuo laughed along with them, his deep baritone voice disrupting their soft laughs.

"Oh, what a touching moment. The sweetness of it all is going to make me vomit."