He ran across the street and past groups of gathering onlookers as Shizuos rampage began to draw a bit of a crowd. He slid smoothly through the gathering humans surrounding the area, weaving in and out between nervous adults and gaping children, both groups awed by the dangerous display of violence taking place in front of them.

He would see if he could try to catch a subway there, but that was unlikely and he knew he was probably in for the long haul.

"IZAYA! STOP!"

The buildings were spaced out well enough in this district that it made it difficult for him to lose him as he ducked corners and rounded curves to evade the charging beast hot on his heels.

He had to admit, it felt good. He felt alive, more than ever.

Sure. He'd have to deal with the Awakusu later. But this familiar feeling of excitement, of the chase had been what he needed. It seemed all he needed was a boost.

Just that moment, he rounded a corner to come face to face with a high stone wall fence. He tried the door, but it was firmly locked and a mere kick was not enough to break it, "Shit", he cursed, he went to turn around but it was too late.

"Shit is right Izaya." Shizuo arrived with a giant object in tow, appeared to be a trash can. Izaya panted but wondered if he could work his way out of this one, keep him talking. He edged his way toward Shizuos left,

"Shizuo! Fancy seeing you here! You have work way out in this district now, huh?"

"Izaya, stop changing the subject." He glared, "what were you up to earlier, somethings up with you." His voice growled threateningly, however, his actions countered his words as he set down the trash can. "And that makes this even more fishy, considering it's you."

Izaya just grimaced as he made a sideways dash for it only to have his path blocked.

"Izaya, can't you see I'm talking here" Shizuo spoke menancingly, "you should answer when someone asks you something,"

"Can't, too busy-" Izaya smiled and lifted his hands in a dramatic wave, "great seeing you though, thanks for the assistance earlier, see ya!"

And with his final words he dashed around the blond to his right and made it out of the dead end. Or so he thought, with a quick reflex, Shizuo reached out and caught the edge of his jacket. From the look on his face, he didn't expect to actually grab him either. His mouth opened dumbly for a second and his eyes widened in surprise. Enough of a delay that Izaya was able to twist around his grip on his sleeve and smoothly pull out of his jacket.

Shizuo saw it coming and tried to quickly recover but he was already out. He jumped back a couple steps and threw a taunting smirk at Shizuo. "So slow Shizuo-Chan." He chucked in amusement, "Perhaps your bad health habits are finally catching up to you,"

He was about to dip out of there, but Shizu-chan's amusing expression made him pause. Shizuo paused exhaling deeply and straightened with a stern, dry expression.

"What? Nothing to say?" Izaya chuckled light heartedly, he really was quite entertaining today,

"What's the point?" Shizuo spit the last word and crossed his arms, looking away to glare at the wall, "you're not going to listen anyway"

Izayas eyes widened in surprise and then he burst out laughing harder than before. Shizuo turning his gaze to glare hard.

"Shizu-Chan, what-why? Did you miss me?" He stood up from his gut aching laughing wiping his eyes, "do we have the kind of relationship you can say that?"

Ignoring him, Shizuo face looked serious as he glared at the cackling informant, "So what kind of trouble did you cause this time?"

"Hmm? I'm sorry I don't know what you're referring to," He paused his laughter to search his face, curious.

"Why did you want me to chase you? What did you do to them?" He scowled, not having it, "you must've done something since they were planning to kill you."

…

Huh?

…

Izaya felt broken, his mind just froze. Did he really…? He tried to form a thought, a sentence…nothing came to him. How…unexpected.

He just stared dumbfounded. How did he know that much. Could he have had prior information? No, there's no way. How did he glean this information? ...how could he? Shizuo is blind as a bat when it comes to any news or current events, and he barely keeps his ear to the ground on anything outside of his immediate work, so he doubted he would know anyone Izaya would have crossed paths with in this case.

Shizuo, obviously irritated with his lack of response, spoke up, "I mean, that's why you got my attention right? You wanted me to chase you. So why."

His brain couldn't compute. Even if he had figured it out, why would he-

"Why would you…" Izaya trailed off, looking unsure. A rare picture, indeed.

Instead of answering any more of Izayas inane questions. He decided to ask one of his own,

"You play piano?" He pulled out his cigarette box and pulled a smooth stick from the case.

Huh… Izaya again brought his eyes back to Shizuo, staring with some incredulity and doubt. "Well, yes." he paused, "As many Japanese parents do with their children, I was forced to learn from a young age." He watched as Shizuo patted the cigarettes end against the box and pulled a lighter from his other pocket, eventually lighting it.

"Hmm…" Shizuo paused thoughtfully, before bringing the cigarette to his lips for a drag.

"What was that song you played?"

Had this beast watched him earlier? He felt very off balance, everything felt… off. Why was he asking this? Why had he even been there.

What song was it that you played? Shizuo asked again, his face not betraying if he was annoyed at having to repeat himself.

"Uh," Izaya chuckled awkwardly and rather unsurely, "surely, you didn't listen to it earlier."

"Why the hell do you think I'm asking?" He looked up giving him a condescending, dull gaze

Sure, he probably deserved that for such a dumb response. He cleared his throat to regain some cohesion. Swallowing his surprise and apprehension at Shizuos quick perception. How he always managed to understand the root of every situation with ease, he could never figure out.

"It's Chopin. Nocturne Opus 9 no 1 in b flat minor," He said almost breathlessly, like he was dreaming.

Shizuo grunted in response as acknowledgment of his reply. A few moments passed and all that was heard was Shizuo blowing out smoke as he stared at the sky.

"…it's a beautiful song."

Without another word he turned the way he came and began walking away, leaving Izaya to stare at him go.

His mind ran a mile a minute, and at the same time nothing was comprehensible. Of course not. This was Shizu-Chan.

Feeling his mood rather sombered, he ducked into the next alleyway, off to return to his apartment.