Chapter 92: Ace

He wanted to spread the virus further. Wanted to infect everyone present. That truth suddenly became undeniable and awfully oppressive.

Izaya's eyes narrowed and his mind worked overtime as he tried to think of ways to delay the surefire end.

If that was the case then this was a race against time. The antidote or the virus.

Either him or the priest, who was going to finish first?

"Sounds like you lost someone?" Shizuo suddenly said, referring to the way their patient said some people had died. Izaya had been too distracted to notice the way his eyes seemed pained while speaking those words.

"Too many," he sighed and closed them.

Silence ruled the room for a few seconds of decency. Having lost someone- everyone present could relate to that feeling.

If nothing else it caused a sense of bond between them, even if it was just one of similarities.

"Say, what's your name?" Shizuo asked after a while and their patient smiled with a bitter expression.

"Masaki." It caused Shizuo to wonder just how many people he had introduced himself to only to see them die later on. "You?" Masaki returned the question and Shizuo blinked.

Right. He didn't know who they were.

"Izaya, and that brute is Shizuo," Izaya took it upon himself to answer as he pointed at himself and Shizuo respectively.

A smile.

That's what grazed Masaki's lips at the introduction.

But it fell as quick as the sound of footsteps creaking from the hall.

Chopsticks dropped and countenance was discarded as both Izaya as well as Shizuo jumped to their feet-

Something was out there.

Inside the Isakaya.

Eyes darted around as Izaya searched for a weapon of use- for anything viable to cut a damned flatworm in half, because as quiet as this one behaved it was definitely not just a fungi that had lost its way.

But there was nothing-

No knife long enough to reach, no lamppost ready to smash its head and Izaya met Shizuo's gaze in a short moment of panic.

Shizuo.

His strength.

That was the only option-

But what if he got bitten? What if this was the one last attack that would finally get him?

Pictures flooded Izaya's mind. Pictures of how one of those bastards bit Shizuo's arm before and just happened to get its head smashed in before it could break the fabric of his shirt-

He didn't want that-

He didn't-

But it was already there.

The shadow.

Growing in the hallway and Shizuo's fists tightened to maximum strength.

One clean swoop. He had to bust its head off quickly or else-

"I come in peace."

And suddenly the flatworm talked.

With a feminine voice too.

A familiar one-

And suddenly she was there.

Arms raised in a sign of surrender, she walked into the door's frame as if nothing in the world could bother her and Izaya recognized the woman for who she was.

"Kujiragi?" Izaya whispered in sheer disbelief and the relief washing through Shizuo's body forced him to his knees as he sat back down onto the ground.

"God damnit, could you approach any worse?" he cursed under his breath and the woman blinked as she looked around the room.

It had to be a funny sight. Masaki down in bed, the candle serving as light and the fish discarded on the ground in a quick burst of action.

"Heh, I didn't think I would see you alive and kicking," she announced, surprised and Izaya figured she had not watched them enter the Izakaya.

"A friend of yours?" Masaki asked and failed to hide his nervousness at the sudden guest's entry.

"No enemy at least," Izaya sighed and felt the tension leave his own body. "What are you doing here?"

"The light?" Shizuo suddenly threw in and Izaya's eyes narrowed as he looked towards the small window on the side.

It was showing nothing but a small garden and the wall of another building. In other words it was not visible from the street and shouldn't have been perceivable. But he understood Shizuo's worry.

"Calm down," Kujiragi merely sighed as she sat down on the floor in absolute leisure. "I have been wandering this area for a while. Had it not been my favorite restaurant I wouldn't have noticed anyone meddling with the front door."

Izaya's eyes narrowed.

So that's how she had noticed them.

Luck or bad luck.

He wasn't quite sure which he was experiencing right now.

With her ability to call Saika forth she was a threat worse than the flatworms and just because she helped them out in the past didn't mean she was going to do the same at this point.

Time had separated them and there was no saying what kind of horror she experienced. No way to tell if she had gone insane yet.

He had to play his cards well, or else-

"Is that…- raw fish?" the woman suddenly asked, and interrupted Izaya in his complicated net of theories.

The question was as unexpected as it was trivial and he found himself quite stupefied by her words.

"Ootoro, yeah," he replied slowly- and Kujiragi's eyes lit up at the word. He didn't even really know what he was doing, but before Izaya knew it he was offering the box along with a second pair of chopsticks he had intended for Shizuo to use.

Hesitation marked her stance and Kujiragi lifted her gaze.

"The source?"

"Freezer. The owner of this Isakaya kept it running with solar panels."

And suddenly it was there.

Delight.

Absolute delight displayed on her face as she reached for a fatty piece of tuna.

Eyes closed, hums of approval and a sense of vulnerability no assassin should wear shrouded her entire existence.

And Izaya- Izaya relaxed and the storm of ideas came to a halt.

She appeared blissfully emotional over the simple joy of food despite being so cold and calculating usually and suddenly he realized he didn't have to come up with convincing arguments of any sort.

Because this woman had suffered the same fate they all had.

Alone.

Coming up here she could have threatened them or bribed into working together. Instead she seemed awfully lacking in schemes.

Wasn't that because she just wished for some company?

"You don't happen to have some painkillers on hand, do you?" Masaki suddenly whispered from the side and a frown caused by strain creased his forehead.

The antibiotics Izaya had administered earlier had already been swallowed, but he didn't really account for the pain.

"Not too many and I don't know how they will affect your wound," he replied with honesty as he looked at the pile of medics he had gathered.

"He is injured?" Kujiragi asked, albeit way less hostile than last time. Seeing Izaya injured had equaled a death sentence to her, but now?

"Minorly. We are trying to keep a sepsis out of the way," Izaya explained, and the woman moved over before he knew it.

"May I take a look?" She asked, and Masaki seemed anything but delighted by the idea.

Right.

She was a scientist. Or a doctor? Both by now probably considering how she had been practicing skills necessary for survival.

"Her treating you is the best that could happen to you," Izaya informed quickly, and Masaki relaxed a little upon seeing the woman crouch down and lift his blanket.

"Are you a doctor?" he asked, but flinched as Kujiragi reached for the layered bandaid and started tugging it off the wound.

"Scientist. But I have taken more people apart than you have ever met if that helps."

The statement was awfully crude, and far from relieving, but even Masaki seemed to understand that her profession implied a whole lot of knowledge about the human body and its functions.

The last layer of bandage came undone quickly and while Masaki grit his teeth all Kujiragi had to offer was a frown. "Stabbed?" she commented dryly, "That's not what I call a minor wound."

True. But not in this case.

"No arteries were torn and we found him a day after the impact, still alive and kicking," Izaya explained. Just the simple fact of how much time had passed and still kept this guy alive was enough to tell volumes about this injury.

A soft smile spread across Kujiragi's lips and she glanced at Masaki in mild amusement.

"Tenacious aren't you?"

"Thanks for the roses," he whispered in a mild joke, but his lips quickly pressed onto each other as Kujiragi thoroughly inspected the wound.

Turning around the woman was quick with her assessment and even quicker with her treatment as she picked one of the many pills Izaya had gathered.

"You should sleep," she announced and popped the tablet from its confines. "This will help."

A water bottle that Izaya had brought from the pantry and used to administer the antibiotic was unscrewed and Masaki sighed in obedience.

"Alright doctor, whatever you say," he mumbled, and with a few light gulps of water the tablet was gone.

"Your diagnosis is missing a few points, but from what I can see he should be fine," Kujiragi announced as quickly as the medicine was gone and turned to face Izaya with a complimenting smile. "Ever thought of switching careers?"

Izaya snorted at that. "Am I that skilled?"

"You both are."

Right.

She previously said Shizuo didn't do too badly either considering he was doing whatever he could to fix his broken rib.

Unsure what to make of the compliment, Shizuo was only showing a questioning frown and Izaya snorted.

"Shizu-chan as a doctor? Please no. He is the one to send people to hospital, not the other way round," Izaya threw in and a fine streak of amusement creased Shizuo's forehead. "Hey."

A discreet glance was cast towards their patient and Kujiragi moved a bit closer.

Masaki's eyes had closed and his breathing stabilized to a low but even succession of breaths.

Snapping her fingers next to his ear, Kujiragi nodded approvingly before speaking.

"Out cold," she confirmed and Izaya nodded.

"Good."

They both seemed to think in similar patterns and their interests aligned in an almost scary way.

Only Shizuo was left confused as he looked back and forth between the two.

"How is that good?"

Raising to her feet the woman moved away from her patient and joined Izaya on the ground next to his fresh box of Ootoro.

"I gave him something to knock him out. In a good way of course," she quickly added as Shizuo sent her a quick glare.

"Rest will benefit his body as much as it's useful for us," Izaya tried to explain and Kujiragi nodded as another piece of her delicious fish disappeared in her mouth and the soft hint of delight moved the corners of her lips upwards.

"So, who is he?" She asked, staying extra quiet on purpose.

"Possibly an ally but I'm not sure yet," Izaya answered in a similar fashion and his eyes narrowed. "Have you heard of a priest gathering believers?"

Quizzical eyes, pausing midway on devouring yet another piece of fish rested on Izaya as Kujiragi showed obvious signs of lack of knowledge.

"A group gathering at a mall basically. They are fans of the virus," Izaya described what Jo's hoes boiled down to at the end of the day.

"Sounds like a pain in the ass," Kujiragi agreed, "How are you connected to them?"

"We expanded. Shinra, Namie and a few others joined us halfway through our attempt to survive."

The names were familiar to her. Especially Namie, as she had been the one to research the virus in the beginning and the one to announce that it was no threat.

"And now they are keeping them hostage?" she concluded quicker than Izaya anticipated her to and smiled.

"More or less. We were ordered to fetch what this guy failed to return," he revealed and pointed towards the unconscious Masaki.

"The desired object?" Kujiragi questioned and Izaya's eyes narrowed.

"Something that's definitely not meant to be used for healthcare."

Shizuo was amazed.

Rendered to silence he could do nothing but watch as they hit it off like old childhood friends that knew each other by heart.

He had heard a lot of Izaya's explanations by now, and usually he needed a lot more words than this to explain a situation accurately. But Kujiragi seemed to be on the same wavelength as not a shred of confusion was to be found in her eyes.

Arms crossed and nodding to herself the conversation paused for a couple seconds only before she came back with a conclusion that made no sense to Shizuo.

"So he is your key," she answered, and by now Shizuo had given up following the conversation entirely.

Izaya on the other hand was more than pleased to find nothing but quick wit and understanding.

Kujiragi had always been smart, but deducing not only the priest's plan but also his own was another level of impressive. Her deductions were as sharp as a knife.

Pausing in his own thoughts, Izaya halted as he looked towards her palm.

Right-

"What about your blades?" he asked, and somehow he already knew the answer before she gave it.

A tired glance was cast towards the useless lumps of ordinary human flesh and she sighed.

"They stopped working," she disclosed and only confirmed what Izaya feared. "Don't ask me why I wouldn't know, I can just tell you it's a fact."

Izaya's eyes narrowed.

Not only was this a let down in terms of fighting power- but if her blades stopped working… the same might have happened to Celty.

He had never been her greatest fan apart from the fact that she might lead him to Valhalla, but ever since she disappeared Shinra had been looking for her.

But without her shadows…

"Just so you know. I took your advice to heart," Kujiragi suddenly announced, tearing Izaya out of his thoughts.

"Advice?"

"Research," she pointed out, and suddenly Izaya remembered the way they parted. She had asked for compensation for keeping them out of danger for the night.

Izaya's intel on how it might be possible to create an antidote and a possible path to that goal was all he had to offer.

She had disregarded those words at that point in time and Izaya thought her opinion remained.

But it seemed he was wrong.

"Ever since you talked about a possible antidote I couldn't quite get the wish for immunity out of my mind," she suddenly sighed, and a smile, so awfully humane and awfully frustrated, curved her lips. "Though I think we are chasing a wild dream of impossible wishes."

"Not necessarily," Izaya spoke quicker than Shizuo liked and rose to his feet. His left arm's sleeve was pulled and before Izaya knew it Shizuo had jumped up as well. "Izaya-" he warned. After all, it had been Izaya who said before that they shouldn't disclose his immunity to anyone yet-

The decision to reveal that right now seemed awfully rushed- and yet Izaya looked at him with eyes that were void of despair.

"It's fine," he spoke with more confidence than Shizuo expected and so he let go.

One last glance was cast towards Masaki in order to make sure that he was actually asleep before a quiet whisper accompanied the reveal of his fading bite mark.

"I'm immune."

Silence.

Recognition.

Disbelief.

And a sudden undefiable surge of hope glittered in Kujiragi's eyes and brought them back to life.

"How?" She whispered, rushed and awfully excited.

"It was an accident, really," Izaya continued and pulled his sleeve back down. "Something I mixed together seemed to consume the virus and in a moment of frustration I used myself as the first guinea pig," Izaya wasn't proud of those actions and it showed in his voice. But the results were worth more than his weight in gold. "I was bitten afterwards and as you can see, nothing happened," he finished, and somehow those words seemed to save the woman on multiple levels.

"Does it work for both?" she asked after a few seconds of joy and her gaze reverted to that of a professional, ready to tackle her newest assignment.

Now it was Izaya's turn to be surprised as she talked about what Shinra and him had only discovered a few days earlier.

"You know about the fungi and flatworms?"

"Flatworms?" She repeated in a moment of perplexion, but then her face lit up. "So that's the parasite. I figured out there are two separate infections spreading but while it was easy to attain a sample from the... fungi as you call them, the faster ones weren't quite as easy to get."

More and more possibilities seemed to stream into Izaya's head and his joy seemed to be infectious as Kujiragi matched his pace.

"The antidote I administered to myself was made from flatworm blood," he confirmed and Kujiragi's eyes widened.

"So technically-"

"I could be immune to both," Izaya agreed, "But I didn't get to prove my thesis yet."

Reaching out for Izaya in an unexpected moment, he found himself a bit dumbfounded as he stared at her empty hand.

"Blood." She announced as if it were the most common order issued of all time.

"What?"

"As I said I have been taking your advice to heart," she smiled, "I have learnt a lot more than you could probably comprehend. Not to offend your intelligence. It's a simple advantage in experience."

And Izaya snorted. "None taken."

His blood, huh?

It was the most logical conclusion after everything he disclosed.

"I will test it. Your blood. And if it truly resists the parasite it will take a fraction of the time we spent wandering to create a soluble solution for everyone."

A fraction-

"You can create an antidote from blood?" Izaya repeated feeling his own hopes cling to a healthy dose of suspicion as he was not yet willing to give in to the joy of superiority that was slowly creeping into his mind.

"I have been doing nothing else for the past ten years." Kujiragi smiled with the kind of confidence only someone in her best field of work could muster. "If your veins hold the key to immunity then all that's needed is to separate the antigens in your blood."

Antigens.

Like puzzle pieces, the words she spoke and Shinra's instructions aligned in his mind.

Trust was something he was rarely willing to give. But hearing the exact same words that he had received as instructions he couldn't help but feel his decision proven by some kind of fate.

"We secured a safe room along with an apheresis machine," he disclosed what he never thought he would.

But it was now or never.

"What? Where?"

With the priest at their heels and a possible third epidemic caused by that maniac he had to play his cards with a bit of risk.

"Trainstation. Wait, I will mark it down for you-" The map he had been carrying around to make out Masaki's position suddenly came in extremely handy as he pulled it from his pants' pocket. "I have been thinking of sneaking there to research the virus everytime I can, but with the priest on my heels it would have taken ages." He lifted his head to face the one woman that was capable of completing what he was set to create. "But if you go-"

A quick nod was given and the map grasped with a victorious smile.

"Did I already tell you that I am glad you survived?"

Izaya snorted, "Not yet."

A pencil was pulled from her own pants and a few notes inscribed on the back of the map.

"The act of creating an actual antidote from your veins is going to be a long process of trial and error so I can't tell you an exact date of success." She stated, but smiled. "But I can promise you that I will be successful." More and more lines were put onto the paper as her voice faded into soft mumbles. "I need some Antigonon powder. Ethanol, that one is easy. 48 hours, shaking six of them- A machine? No, not without electricity-"

Instruction after instruction left her lips and somehow it was as though the sun was rising in the midst of their room.

Warmth of hope and an actual plan that would finally lead them back to civilization was starting to take form and Izaya felt his excitement rise.

At first it was a smile, a soft giggle, really, but the laughter bubbling from his lips was unstoppable.

Because just when he thought that damned priest was going to beat him in this race against time he realized how far ahead he already was.

"I thought you kept your marbles?" Kujiragi asked with a sneer and Izaya wiped a tear from the corner of his eyes.

"I did, I did, it's just-" taking a deep breath he grinned. "Kujiragi, you truly are the ace up my sleeve."

With this massive advantage there was no way the priest was going to finish first.

to be continued~

I'm awfully sentimental today xD I just finished outlining the last dialogues left in this story C': Ahhh, the pain, the demise and the climax C': Don't worry guys, I have a load of surprises left for you in the last "few" installments xD

See you next friday~