-๑-๑ ஜ ๑-Chapter 46: Family matters-๑ ஜ ๑-๑-

Eyes wary, Shizuo glanced after the two officers as they disappeared from the school grounds.

They obviously hadn't been informed on Izaya's capture nor himself.

But there was no saying how much time they had until they received new orders.

"Izaya told me to fetch you two," Shizuo quickly explained, hoping the twins would believe him despite their bad relationship.

"Iza-nii-" Kururi exclaimed, worry flashing across her face, Mairu was more suspicious as she extended her arm to keep Kururi back.

"Do you belong to the police?" A glare rivaling Izaya's directed at him and Shizuo couldn't help but feel the similarity between the siblings.

It was good.

A fair amount of distrust was healthy.

"Hell, no. I'm-" Shizo hesitated, not quite sure just how much the siblings knew. What was he supposed to say to gain their trust? Did he know anything that could prove his connection to the flea?

Ah.

Connection.

"I'm… taking care of Izaya at the moment instead of Hachiro," he tried, hoping that those would catch onto what he meant.

They were what? 14? 15? Old enough for Izaya to have given them at least a light briefing on their genes.

Recognition lit up their faces as they glanced at each other.

"What about uncle Hachiro?"

Uncle-

God the way the siblings phrased that bastard's name made Shizuo want to retch. Even more so considering the bastard would have been more than delighted to rape another of the Orihara siblings. Of course Izaya hadn't told them what kind of an asshole that guy was, but still-

… at least they recognized the name.

"He betrayed your brother, ratted him out to the police," Shizuo spat, not even trying to hide his contempt.

"What?!" Surprise flashed across both their expressions.

It was then that Shizuo's eyes spotted the teacher he had been talking to earlier.

Walking out of the front gate she turned her head.

She was looking for him-

"We should leave-" Shizuo quickly whispered, gently grasping the sibling's shoulders as he pushed them into an alley not too far off.

But …where to?

Izaya hadn't exactly given him clear instructions. He understood that he had to keep them from being found by the police, but what now?

"Where is Iza-nii?" Kururi suddenly asked and Mairu shot right after. "Was big brother really shot?"

Shit.

They had heard about the news.

"He was-" Shizuo replied truthfully. Despair drew upon their faces and Shizuo quickly followed up. "But he is fine!"

The two sisters didn't exactly sound convinced as their expressions only tripled in worry.

"Where is he?" Mairu shot quickly, and Shizuo felt as though he shouldn't have told those two in the first place. What did he think they would do? Not give a shit? They were his siblings for fucks sake.

But it was too late to start lying.

"At the police."

The new information seemed to hit the two harder than the fact that he had been shot.

"No-" Kururi exclaimed quickly, searching for her sister's eyes.

"They won't do anything to him," Shizuo quickly assured, "they can't just kill him they-"

"No, but they can let him disappear!" Mairu exclaimed, a hint of anger swaying in her voice.

Now it was Shizuo's turn to be confused as well as deeply unsettled.

"What?" he breathed, trying to understand what those two were talking about.

"They lock him up long enough to check whether he is an incubus or not!" Mairu exclaimed- and Shizuo's guts dropped.

All of a sudden Izaya's wish made so much more sense.

Siblings.

Of course.

He wanted Shizuo to take care of them in case he wasn't going to return. This wasn't just a simple precaution or a small order Shizuo was supposed to execute to help the raven.

It was a permanent one.

An order for when Izaya disappeared for good.

He knew-

He knew.

No.

That couldn't be right-

Izaya had some sort of plan, right? He always had? Otherwise he wouldn't have walked straight into that god damn police station, right?

He could have just left the city with his siblings-

Stares full of worry searched for relief in Shizuo's eyes as the two siblings hoped he would tell them Izaya was fine.

And god damn hell he would make sure of that.

"I won't let that happen," he announced with more confidence than he felt.

"What can you even do?" Mairu questioned, her voice loaded heavy with doubt. It was a little heartbreaking.

They were so much like Izaya in so many ways. Their mannerism, their pattern of speech, their attitude.

"Hey, look at me," Shizuo announced, "I'm not going to let your brother die."

He would find a way to get him out of there and if needed he would bust a fucking hole into the wall.

The twins nodded softly. Trust was probably something they didn't exactly hold, but at least they seemed to have calmed down somewhat.

"... and now?" Kururi asked softly and Shizuo turned to look around.

The police hadn't yet spotted them, but they really needed to get away.

"... we should hide somewhere, but your brother wasn't exactly clear as to where," Shizuo informed truthfully.

Where?

Should he take them home into his own apartment?

No.

That would be the first place the police would be searching when looking for him.

"We have a key." Mairu suddenly announced, causing Shizuo to stop midway in his thoughts.

"What?" Without wasting another second Kururi dropped her school bag to the ground, rummaging in its contents.

"An emergency apartment. Izaya gave us the key and address to enter the flat. He said if something happened we should go there. We were on our way when those two officer's suddenly turned up," Mairu informed, while Kururi pulled a heavy silver key from her bag.

A secret apartment.

Shizuo didn't know whether that made Izaya look even more shady or reliable. But it sounded just like him, prepared for every situation.

"Show me the way." The siblings nodded, pulled the school bag back on and- moved to a car?

Quickly as though Shizuo had given them some kind of secret command Mairu fisher a long ruler out of her bag. The window was unhinged and before he knew it the two had opened the car and flung out some cables from underneath the steering wheel.

"What are you doing-?"

Glances were cast at each other's faces before turning to Shizuo.

"Hotwiring." Kururi informed-

"You can drive right?" Mairu asked, nonchalantly as if Shizuo had just asked the weirdest question on the planet.

Baffled Shizuo looked at the two- the car-

"What the hell is Izaya teaching you?!" Realizing his voice was quite loud, Shizuo quickly lowered it.

The siblings didn't seem fazed by his outburst at all.

"Just necessary things." Mairu shrugged and Shizuo stepped in front of the car to make sure no one saw what those two were doing.

"In what world is hotwiring a car for teenagers necessary?!" he hissed between tight lips.

Glances were exchanged and the two blinked.

"Just in case someone comes to get us," they announced.

Naturally.

As though it was common sense.

It baffled Shizuo to a degree he hadn't expected.

"...what?"

"Like our parents." Mairu informed curtly- and suddenly Shizuo felt put off.

Izaya's parents. The siblings' parents.

Shizuo never bothered to ask- he knew Izaya had raised his sisters alone for some reason, but he never…

Suddenly he felt just so out of place.

His family was a small one. Their family had been happy for most of the time.

It never occurred to him why Izaya had to bring up his sisters or why there were no parents ready to pick them from school.

Right now for example.

Why did Izaya tell Shizuo to fetch them?

Because they were obviously not there to.

And concluding from what those two had said…

They were dead.

Having been fetched from the police probably and then- Mairu's fear about her brother disappearing suddenly seemed so much more real and horrifying.

They weren't just worried for nothing- they had had it happen to them.

"I'm sorry I-"

"It happened a long time ago, you don't have to feel bad for bringing it up." Mairu quickly interrupted with a shrug.

"Gentle." Kururi agreed as the two sisters looked at each other before laughing.

"He really is, I can see why Izaya likes him."

Like-

What the hell did Izaya tell them?

"Can we just go to the apartment?" Shizuo groaned- he really wasn't mase to take care of children.

"Sure." The engine roared as if on command and Mairu pointed towards the driver's seat.

"There you go."

It took the blond a moment to realize what those two wanted from him.

"... I can't drive."

Rolling her eyes, Mairu merely sighed, "It's not stealing if it's an emergency and Izaya will pay for it later," she clarified, misunderstanding the meaning of Shizuo's words entirely.

"No, I mean, I can't drive a car. I don't know how," Shizuo clarified the main issue.

Stealing a car was still nothing he approved of, even if it was just borrowed, but that was not the problem.

"You have no license? Didn't you like, practice driving or something when you were a child?" Mairu questioned, as if that were the most common thing to do in one's childhood.

Hell, he hadn't even sat in the driver's seat. Not to mention start the engine.

They lived in a city well connected by underground trains and what not, owning a car was no necessity.

Also it was hella expensive and he wasn't willing to spend so much money just to get road rage over stupid drivers and missing parking lots.

Looking at each other Mairu glanced at her sister.

"Should I?" Kururi asked and Mairu sighed in defeat.

"Alright, guess we have no choice."

Wait, what-

"Kururi will drive." Mairu announced, quickly moving around the car to slip into the passenger's seat.

Bewildered, Shizuo looked at the young girl as she put on her seatbelt.

"You can't drive! You are barely 14!"

"15 actually. Do you have a better idea? They are already looking for us, you know," Mairu quickly stated before slamming the door to the car shut.

Shizuo wanted to go over there and drag them both out of the car. This idea was ridiculous- he couldn't just let minors drive through the city!

And yet- he knew they were right.

Hijacking a car just like he had to get here was no option. The traffic was scarce and who was to say how his next victim would react?

Time was also an issue.

With Shizuo having appeared at the police station they were sure to look for him as well.

In fact he was pretty sure they already were considering how they had searched the school ground. "Fuck-" moving over he opened the door to the backseats as he slipped into the vehicle.

"Hey, are you sure you can do this? I can think of another way," he leaned forward, addressing the quiet sister as gently as possible. He didn't want to pressure her into doing something she didn't feel confident in.

But she shook her head, s soft smile spreading over her lips as she glanced back.

"No problem."

"I would put on a seating belt if I were you." Mairu announced, the phone screen reflecting in her glasses as she opened google maps.

"What?" Shizuo asked, but his question was cut short as Kururi pointed up front.

"Look."

The police.

Having turned around the corner two officers were standing on the street leading to the school. They were obviously searching for them as their heads turned, and Shizuo ducked in the back.

"Where to?" Kururi questioned, steering the car out of the parking lot.

"First turn go right-" Mairu announced, zooming the map in as she held it towards her sister.

A short glance was cast and a soft nod given.

"Got it."

And then the engine roared- louder than Shizuo had thought it could as the car's frame flew into motion.

The tachometer flew to the 120 mark in what had only been seconds as the car drifted around the next corner.

Wheel screeched, lights ignited on the headboard and Shizuo's face crashed head on into the window.

"What the hell-" Kururi drove like a madman, yet with a kind of precision Shizuo had never seen before.

"Next corner left, then go straight for 5 minutes." Mairu informed nonchalant as if fleeing from the police in a stolen car was a daily activity.

"Where did you learn to drive like that?!" Shizuo yelled from the back, but Mairu merely grinned as she glanced back.

"Iza-nii showed us."

Wow.

That was preparation. The emergency apartment had already exceeded Shizuo's expectations, but this?

The small girl was driving so well Shizuo couldn't help but guess just how many hours of practice had amounted to this. "He also taught us self defense and offense in case we get in trouble." Mairu announced further, zooming out of the map on her phone as she checked the road ahead.

"Offense?" Shizuo asked and she nodded without raising her glance.

"Well, sometimes defending alone is not enough."

Shizuo had no idea.

What Izaya's past was like, their parents, how he brought up his siblings- he had always somewhat known about all of that but somehow what he had imagined had just blown out of proportion.

Be it about their incubus genes, work or social interactions, Izaya seemed to have really thought of every last detail.

He had prepared his sisters better than Shizuo was.

to be continued~

Well well, aren't they a chaotic trio? xD I like mixing the sister's craziness with Shizuo's sense of rightousness and general unsure attitude lmao

Much more of that is to come haha oh! And just in case you are wondering, this story will take a lot more longer than you might expect because we will be having a mayor change of... surroundings later on xDDD

But I don't wanna spoiler too much haha xD

Anyway hope you like it and see you next saturday~ :3