Chapter 66: The real question

Eyes flying across the content of letters forming words, Izaya swallowed the message quicker than he was able to grasp its meaning.

Dear sister,

My brother and I have heard of your condition and worry for your health. We can't visit you due to circumstances, but we hope you will recover soon.

As for us, we have had quite some troubles ourselves but everything turned out better than expected.

Our appearance might have changed but we pay it no mind.

The weather in Istal is kind just like the people living here.

Please take care of yourself and don't worry about us.

Love, your siblings

Hands losing their grip on the letter just lightly, Izaya stared at the piece of paper in his hands.

This… was no joke right?

This was real-

His sisters-

"They are fine-" his words were whispered, and as if only having realized their truth after hearing them aloud Izaya's lips curled into a smile of unrivaled and immeasurable relief.

It was them.

Mairu and Kururi.

They might have referred to themselves as brother and sister, but Izaya would have considered nothing less from them after figuring out who it was that the king had married.

Izaya wanted to read more and wanted to hear about what they had been through, but the paper was only so small and the ink bought to write must have been expensive. Especially for two young girls pretending to be boys.

They must have been working hard to afford this small piece and even more cautious about sending it off.

If word got out that they could read, their father would have a much easier time to locate them and they had to be aware of that.

Re-reading the letter from the start, Izaya calmed his rapidly pulsing heart as he tried to decipher as much as he could from the few lines his sisters chose to write.

The worry about his health was a real one. The queen's illness had probably spread wider than Izaya was aware. Especially combined with the rumors circling Shizuo's demonic presence and supposed treatment.

Him falling ill was like a proof to the common folk that the king was making his wife suffer.

Not being able to visit was a no brainer too. Traveling was expensive and traveling safely even more so.

A bitter smile grazed Izaya's lips as he realized they were trying to put him at ease with their words. They knew he was worrying about them.

And their appearance- Izaya had already heard it from the supposed thief of their knife that he had faced two boys, not girls. It was a hint to their disguise.

And Istal- it was located almost completely opposite to Loberion and Izaya felt a weight lift off his chest.

That meant they were safe from whatever was kidnapping women and turning men inside out.

And the last-

Heart clenching in bittersweet joy, Izaya understood the last line to be a sign to set himself free.

Of course.

His siblings had only heard rumors of the evil king, of the monster of a son. Those rumors were the reason Izaya had sent them away. To what he believed was safety-

It was ironic that in the end it would have been Shizuo who they would have faced and married. A man that couldn't have been kinder even if he tried.

"Your siblings?" Shizuo suddenly asked, and Izaya realized he had yet to tell the both of them this letter's contents.

Not sure where to start or how to move his lips in cohesive order, Izaya did what felt most natural and simply handed Shizuo the paper.

Quickly, as if having received a notice of utmost urgency the king's eyes flew across the text and his shoulders relaxed.

A smile, rivaling only Izaya's, spread across his lips as he faced his queen, and somehow the delight mirroring in Shizuo's expression only doubled Izaya's joy.

"That means we have more than enough time," the king concluded and Izaya laughed.

"And a location."

They would find them. Eventually. And definitely before Izaya's father could.

"I will send out Carlyle and Lothar as soon as the sun rises tomorrow," Shizuo declared and Izaya nodded in pure relief.

"And you should take a bath and rest." Shinra suddenly announced, addressing the queen that was still wearing clothes doused in wolf blood.

"I do have my rune," Izaya pointed out, failing to see the necessity of rest, especially now that they finally had a proper lead.

Shizuo was about to speak, already knowing that Izaya was too unreasonable when it came to his sacrifices for his sisters, but Shinra was faster.

"As far as I know holy magic still deprives your sense of being. You can not create power from no source so even if you are not aware of it, you must be exploiting something in order to use this spell. Using it may be fine, but sacrificing more of your health thinking you can rely on it is stupid," he announced with a bluntness that carried a certain amount of scolding and Izaya shut up for a second.

"Shinra-" Shizuo addressed his a bit too direct medic, but as surprised as Izaya had been, he was none to fret over the truth.

"No it's fine he is right," he snorted, and rose from the bed. "I thank you for your honesty," he spoke and fixed the laces stringing his back in a way that would keep his act up.

"Didn't intend to give you anything else," Shinra smirked. "Now go, before I tuck you into my own bed."

The medic pointed towards the door, and somehow despite literally being kicked out of the room, Izaya felt nothing but kindness from the act.

"Alright," he smiled, and just for a brief second his gaze stuck with the king.

"Shizuo," he uttered slowly, and carefully as he tried to put everything he was feeling into words- but he failed to come up with anything that wouldn't take ages and failed to grasp the entirety of his thought in a single sentence.

And so he opted for the only choice that seemed viable.

"Thank you."

He was aware his words lacked gravely in describing what he truly felt for Shizuo's action- for protecting him, for helping him find his sisters, caring for him, his words, his actions-

But Shizuo understood, even if it were just two simple words as they were filled with a kind of joy and gratitude that couldn't have been purer.

"I haven't done anything yet," Shizuo declared, but Izaya shook his head with a smile. "You know that's not true."

And with that he left, just as Shinra ordered, or else he would probably really force him to stay.

At least Shizuo wouldn't put it beyond him to actually do so.

Looking at the medic, Shizuo watched him as he scribbled down a few more notes into his book.

A candle was flickering softly before the paper and Shizuo found his mind wandering to the day he brought Izaya to the watchtower. The way he had seemed fragile as a flower tossed into raging currents of a never dying stream.

But now?

Of course Izaya couldn't compare to someone like Craigh, Crispin or any of the nights. Even Karazam was sturdier when it came to his body and health. But the death reaper Shizuo had seen that day on top of the castle tower had finally released his clutches.

"Shinra." Shizuo spoke softly into the air and the medic turned, too immersed in his writing to have noticed that Shizuo had failed to leave.

"What?"

A heartfelt pause followed, and an oddly similar vibe seemed to carry Shizuo's voice as he repeated Izaya's words.

"Thank you," he said, this time directed at Shinra and the medic paused upon the heartfelt gratitude.

A tired smile drew upon his features as he frowned.

"I could say the same, you know. I didn't do much. It was the weather that helped. And apparently some magic," he rolled his eyes with frustration over his own inability to save the queen, but Shizuo wasn't going to take any of that.

"That might be, but you had the idea. You told me to go. If I hadn't left-" the king faded out upon the gruesome fate that had awaited Izaya.

Death.

Undeniably so.

There was no arguing about the fact that the priest and the spell had come at the very last minute.

"I'm just glad he is fine," Shinra spoke, putting the gruesome thoughts swarming Shizuo's head to a quick halt. "And who knows maybe it wasn't me, but the prayers instead. I heard you had some collective prayer going for him." The medic shrugged, out to speak of jokes and maybe trigger some cheerful gossip over the church Shizuo so openly despised.

But the opposite result seemed to take effect as Shizuo's eyes narrowed instead.

"I doubt what they did had any effect," he mumbled, and his eyes scrunched in disdain. He had listened to the so-called head priest. To the rant he presented. Even while talking to Izaya he had caught enough to know that they were preaching the same bullshit as always.

"All they are talking about is demons, whores, sodomy-" a pause, unexpected and powerful, brought Shizuo's mind to a sudden halt.

The fire of Shinra's candle danced in protest as the medic turned another page, seeing as the one before had long reached its limited capacity.

Shizuo couldn't tell what was going on in his mind, his thoughts his ideas-

Taking his seat on top of Izaya's bed they reached their final form as his lips slowly formed words he knew he shouldn't speak.

"Can I ask you something?"

Again the candle light flickered, but this time it was caused by Shinra's surprise as he looked over his shoulder.

"Since when are you asking for permission?" he joked, thinking the king was just trying to be awkwardly polite, but no smile grazed his lips and instead his hands folded into each other in a sign of insecurity.

"How does it work? Sodomy?" Shizuo asked and Shinra couldn't help but snort.

"Really, you don't know? It's when two guys-"

"That's not what I meant."

A pause, much longer than it should be, extended the narrow space of Shinra's chamber to a hall filled with echoes. Shizuo knew what he was asking and that knowledge only enhanced the sensation of wrongness.

Wax dripped from the candle as the flame climbed its way downwards and Shizuo heavily cleared his throat.

"I meant... how?"

Not daring to raise his gaze, Shizuo continued to look at the floor. A very clean floor. No speck of dust was to be seen, and the lack of dirt was almost as unsettling as the lack of words.

Shinra was ready to throw more teases, really, but somehow Shizuo's expression seemed too serious to joke around and suddenly Shinra knew why.

He just knew. No questions asked, no answers given.

An endless amount of time passed by and finally Shinra spoke with more hesitation than he had ever felt the need to bear.

"... Well. I wouldn't know. Normally. But in theory…" Turning around on his chair he made sure to face his troubled king with his most professional attention.

"A woman's body fluids help with a night of lust. A man doesn't have that benefit, so there is extra help needed. Walnut oil for lower class men, olive if you are on a more expensive side," he started to explain, and the king finally lifted his eyes off the ground.

"To do what?"

Innocence marked the entirety of his expression and words spoken and somehow Shinra couldn't quite hold back his humor despite the delicate topic.

"Do I really need to spell it out? There are only that many openings on a man to use in the same way as a woman."

Never had Shinra wished for a memory to take a physical form as badly as he did now that he faced Shizuo's expression.

Bewilderment, disbelief, confusion and a healthy dose of curiosity and worry visibly mixed in his eyes.

"... sounds weird," he announced and paused as his thirst for knowledge emerged victorious over his light perplexion. "And that feels good?"

Shinra nodded, confirming, as the professional he was.

"Similar for the one using it, and apparently better than women for the one being used."

Even worse, bewilderment decorated his king's face upon the statement, but this time Shinra knew exactly what it stemmed from and grinned on purpose to feed the idea in Shizuo's mind.

"What? You asked," Shinra shrugged, and overall enjoyed the look on Shizuo's face too much to clear the growing misunderstanding.

It was too funny to watch Shizuo tiptoe his way around Shinra's private life without talking about Shinra's private life.

Especially with a topic as taboo as this. Judgment and persecution was what most people would expect upon the simplest rumor of this kind, but Shizuo?

He had never been the type to meddle in others' lives.

And yet his curiosity seemed unsatisfied as he continued his questions.

"How do you know?," he asked quietly, quickly following up, "If I may ask."

Shinra grinned.

Much too tempting was the idea to feed this little misunderstanding further, but a lie was nothing he was willing to speak without proper reason.

And so he chuckled, as he let his fish off the hook.

"My mother has had all kinds of people visiting her inn," he explained, and Shizuo's expression shifted from horrified to relieved as he realized Shinra wasn't talking from actual experience. "Two men are not that uncommon to share a room and the noises are sometimes more than just accurate to guess," the medic explained, and Shizuo snorted relieved.

If there was anything he didn't want to talk about, then it was Shinra's sex life.

"No wonder you turned out so weird," he joked and Shinra laughed.

"I take that as a compliment."

Shinra's mum, huh?

Shizuo knew she was keeping an inn and he heard a lot of stories from Shinra about her. They were two of a kind.

And somehow he could see her gently showing her special guests to her most private rooms.

"And she didn't mind?" he asked, but as expected Shinra shook his head.

"Money is money, no matter who it comes from. And every hungry person deserves a warm meal and a bed, no?"

Shizuo smiled at the truth of these words.

Shinra was right.

Even if the church was of a different view, to Shizuo all people remained the same. Because at the end of the day, no matter if they were knights, servants, peasants or nobles, everyone just wanted to live the life they had to their best ability.

Who was he to judge anyone?

"Not many would agree to that sort of logic. But I'm glad you do," he agreed, and the warmth of the chamber returned as it should.

A smile grazed Shinra's lips, as he looked at his king.

"... is there any reason you are asking?"

Shizuo's body tensed almost instantly at the question and Shinra bit back a snort.

"No, I was just curious."

Right, as if.

Shizuo was not a good liar, and trying to keep up a front in front of Shinra failed even worse.

A smile, too pretty to be made for teases, spread across Shinra's lips as he touched his chin.

"... Izaya is a fine man isn't he?"

Startled as though lightning had pierced his guts, Shizuo froze in his seat. The implication was heavy and the medic's stare was too thorough to negate the question.

"Are you trying to imply anything?" Shizuo tried, but he barely sounded convincing even to his own ears.

"No, just stating facts." Shinra chirped and Shizuo swore, one day he was going to behead this guy after all.

He obviously had already and completely looked through him. His expression said so and Shizuo sighed with the heat of embarrassment as the medic kept grinning his ass off.

"Don't you have places to be?" he groaned, only doubling Shinra's amusement.

"That should be my question. This is my room."

Ah-

Looking and feeling even more like a goddamn idiot, Shizuo quickly stood from the bed.

"I need to inform Carlyle and Lothar about tomorrow's departure," he uttered quickly, too hurried to sound clear and Shinra laughed as he finally left.

The candle on his desk was already nearing its end, and he fished a new one from a box on the side of his table.

The fire was handed over in a quick fashion and the renewed light placed far from the paper.

The smell of an extinguished flame singed the air for a moment and Shinra smiled.

He still remembered it.

Clearly.

The way Izaya had talked about their king and his gaze softened as he tilted his head to look at the ceiling and sighed.

"Don't wait too long, king."

to be continued~

Slowly, but surely, I promise- love and everything accompanying it will come faster than you might expect xD C: There are some glorious updates waiting up ahead C: C: C:

By the way I decided I will be dishing out the updates on Friday evening from now on instead of Saturday xD Cuz most of the time I have them fresh and ready to be served, and anything I didn't get done I won't get done on Saturday anyway xDDD
So yeah 3 Just so you aren't confused xD