The Witch and The Beast Himself

Despite today already being so eventful, my day was not over yet. I still needed to sacrifice Izaya’s soul to Satan and dance in the underworld with his evil minions into the night. Just kidding, but I did have something on my agenda, that being to put up a barrier around my and Shizuo’s apartments.

I reached my house first, eyeing the package that sat in front of my door and the transparent barrier that I had put in place before leaving. I picked up the package addressed to me from a cosplay website, indicating to me that the cosplay outfit that I ordered had came in earlier than I expected. I smiled as I thought about my first cosplay event that was coming up shortly; anticipating the fact that I finally get to enjoy what I love doing most with a group of friends that I actually feel comfortable with. I then closed my eyes, imagined a releasing feeling, and took a deep breath in. On the exhale and with a swipe of my hand, I released the barrier and unlocked my door.

 I kicked my shoes off at the door and set my groceries and package down on the kitchen table, keeping in mind what I was planning to do tonight and looking forward to the fact that I will no longer have to put a barrier up everytime I leave my apartment.

I decided to set up my space for the spell ahead of time, moving my coffee table into the center of the room and setting all of my materials for the spell on top of it. I picked up my Book of Shadows and flipped it to the bookmarked page where I had wrote down everything I needed for the spell, checking over it twice to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I suddenly felt the tingle of Shizuo's energy coming towards me. It seemed off to me because he usually texts me before he shows up.

What's going on? I thought as I picked up on his energy coming closer. Buzz words popped in my head to associate the feeling to his energy: hurt, damaged.

Fuck, not again, I thought as I scrambled up and darted out the door. I quickly tiptoed down the steps and turned right into the direction I felt his energy coming from. I finally spotted him, panting and limping down the street into the rainy night, covered almost head to toe in sweat and blood. Whatever tried to kill him this time hit him much harder than the last; his energy was still spiked with anger as he came towards me, his energy also giving off that he was badly hurt and barely hanging onto life. I gasped at the horrific sight, covering my hands over my mouth with shock that he was still alive. His energy quickly faded from his body as he fell to the ground, moving in and out of consciousness. I ran up to him to pick him off the ground.

“What the hell happened?!” I shouted. “How did this happen, why didn't you call the hospital?!”

“Stop!” he yelled back, coughing as blood dripped from his mouth. “Please! You were the closest... to me. I need help… right now.”

“Okay, okay, let me get you into my apartment.” I hastily responded, embarrassed that I immediately bombarded him with questions in his condition. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and rested some of his weight onto me as we hiked up the street to my apartment. I ripped his shirt the rest of the way down, almost retching at what I saw. His entire chest was covered in bloody bullet holes.

“Oh my God, Shizuo… you are covered in bullet holes!” I exclaimed.

“I know… I'm pretty damn lucky to have survived that. I saw... Izaya… and chased after him.” he said between pants. “Then those... Blood fuckers showed up and unloaded... their guns into me.”

“I've gotta call Shinra in for help with this,” I said. “Because this may take more help than what I can give. Give me his number so I can call him.”

“My phone… was smashed.” he said.

“Oh, well I'll call Celty,” I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket with my right hand. I dialed her number, listening to the ring tone. She appeared to pick up on the other end but obviously didn't say anything.

“Celty!” I exclaimed. “We need you and Shirna here ASAP! Shizuo was badly injured by the Blood Diamonds again, and I can only do so much with magic!”

The call suddenly disconnected. I looked down at my phone, instantly receiving a text from Celty saying: [Do whatever you can to keep him alive, I need to pick up Shinra then we'll be over shortly.]

I texted her back: [Will do, thanks again.]

As soon as we reached the stairs, I lost my grip on Shizuo as he fell hard onto the ground, hitting his head on a stair.

“Shit!” I exclaimed as I bent down to try to pick him up.

“It’s okay, I’ll be alright,” he said laboredly. “Just... leave me here.”

“What?” I questioned. “I’m not gonna do that, I’m gonna start a healing spell on you to spare some time before Celty and Shinra get here.” I towered over him as I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath in to prepare for my healing spell. I visualized a life of us together without the constant invasion by Izaya and his goons; a life as stress free as it was before all of this happened.  On the exhale, I rose my hands and pressed my palms into his chest, pouring healing energy into him. He closed his eyes, placing his hand on top of mine.

“I’m...I’m done fighting.” he said slowly.  “I think… at this point it's my time... He's tried so many times… maybe it's time that i finally gave up… i don't want your life to be any harder… than it already is… and... I don't want you to be sad for me….Thank you, (your name),” he said, looking up and smiling at me. “For everything. For coming here and... being with me.”

As I looked up at him as his energy began to fade. My eyes widened as I immediately understood what was happening.

No, it can't be.

“No-- no,” I stammered, struggling to speak as my mouth caught up with my brain. “No, that's not going to happen, I won't let it.”

“It's okay,” he said between uneven breaths.

“NO!” I screamed, switching to my native language out of fear. “No, you're not doing this to me! You can't! I can’t---Please! You can't leave me!” tears ran down my face as i mustered all of my energy into this spell, pouring every inch of my own into him. “I can't do this without you Shizuo, please, stay with me…”

“(Your name),” he sighed, taking a huge breath in, and exhaling, saying “I….” Suddenly, everything went silent, as if the light inside him went out. A wave of darkness came over me as his energy faded from his body. Nothing i could do was working. I stopped my spell, attempting cpr by pumping his heart then checking to hear his breath. I opened his mouth with my own lips to breathe into his mouth, seeing if i could get him to come back. 

 “Oh no, no no no please” I cried out. “Shizuo! Why?! God dammit, why?! I asked you to hang on but you wouldn't! Why would you just give up?! On me?! On everyone that cares about you?! Fuck!” I cried, beating on his chest between every sentence “Why…? Dammit where are they?!” I exclaimed as i remembered that Celty and Shinra were supposed to be here. I dialed Celty’s number and called her.

“(Your name)?” Shirna answered.

“Where are you guys?” i said through tears in Japanese. “I think… i think Shizuo just... I couldn’t do anything.”

“Oh! Oh jeez,” Shirna exclaimed. “Hang on, we're almost there, we’re actually going to need to take him to a hospital.”

“Shinra… Celty… I couldn't do it.” I sobbed. “He… he just GAVE UP before i could do anything. I feel so powerless.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Shirna said frantically. “We're going to take him to Nebula, we should be able to revive him there before it's too late, we’re almost there.”

“Okay,” I said, hanging up the phone. I laid my head on his chest, listening for his heartbeat, until I heard the revving of Celty’s horse and felt Shinra’s energy approaching. I looked up to see them riding quickly down the street until they stopped practically beside us on the sidewalk. After Celty and Shinra jumped off of the bike, Shooter transformed in a shadowy, horse drawn carriage as Celty wrapped her shadows around Shizuo’s body to pick him up. She summoned her phone from her sleeve, typed quickly into it with one hand, then showed it to me:

[Go ahead and get in, I’ll set him down on your lap.] She then erased what she wrote and quickly typed: [I promise, everything is going to be fine, Nebula is a very advanced facility, they’ll be able to revive him.]

“I couldn’t do it…” I said. “And I am destined to be a fucking immortal being with all possible knowledge. So how could they do it?”

“Come on, we’re running out of time,” Shinra said as he gently pushed me forward to get into the carriage. I stepped up into the carriage, raising my hands slightly so that Celty could lay his body in the back with me, his head resting in my lap. I played with his hair and kept a hand on his chest for a heartbeat as we rode quickly to Nebula Corp, the hospital that could supposedly revive the dead.

Upon arriving, we stopped at a gate to a huge facility. The gate opened for us automatically, allowing us inside. Once we made it to the entrance of the area, Celty stepped off of the carriage as she wrapped her shadows around Shizuo to pick him up and bring him inside. Once we all stepped off of the carriage, it transformed back into a bike, giving off a short, other wordly snort as it moved up slightly on its own to park alongside the building.

I followed Celty and Shinra into the huge building, stepping inside the brightly lit lobby. The lobby of the facility did not look like a normal hospital lobby; all of the right interior was there but there wasn’t a waiting area, and all of the attendants wore lab coats. I followed them down the hallway past a receptionist’s desk, where the the woman sitting at the desk stood up and bowed to him.

“Good evening, Dr. Kishitani,” she greeted Shinra, then looked to Celty, who carried Shizuo’s body on her shoulder with her shadows wrapped around him for support. Shinra said nothing as we hurriedly stepped past her to an elevator. He swiped his badge in the card slot to the right, then typed in a code on the keypad next to it to access the elevator. We followed in with him as the elevator door closed shut behind us and Shinra pressed a button to go to the 3rd floor.

“I've have been working on something that can bring Shizuo back in case something like this happened,” Shinra began. “It's not exactly finished yet, but we've gotta make it work either way.”

Once we reached the 3rd floor, we came to a waiting room with the same layout as the lobby in the entrance on the ground floor.

“Wait here,” Shinra said as he looked at me. “After Celty brings him in I'll send her back out here to sit with you.”

“Okay,” I said, sulking over to a chair in the waiting room as Shinra and Celty carried Shizuo past two double doors on the right of the receptionist’s desk. I slumped back into the chair, leaning back further to put my hands to my eyes as i continued to process everything that just happened.

Shizuo just… I shuddered at the thought. And… and there was nothing that I could do about it… why couldn’t I? I slumped forward, crossing my arms on my legs and put my head down staying in the position that i was in as i spiraled downward into the grief that I felt.

 This is… all my fault. I could have prevented this. I could have saved him, but i didn't…what do i do from here? I can't go back home. How am I going to live without him if whatever Shirna has planned doesn't work? I've never met another man like him. I don't know if I will ever be able to recover from this… Shizuo… I'm sorry...

******************************

 I woke up, realizing that I must have fallen asleep when i felt someone place their a hand on my shoulder. I jumped up to the touch, surprised that I didn’t sense this person’s energy, until I looked over to see Celty had sat next to me. I breathed a sigh of relief as I attempted to let go of the anxiety that came from the touch.

“You scared me,” I said.

She typed into her phone and showed it to me, [Sorry, I have good news for you.]

“What’s going on?” I asked. “Are they really gonna save him?”

She typed into her phone again, then held it up, [They were able to bring him back, he’s breathing but he needs to rest. Shirna is running some more tests on him before leaving him here for the night.]

My eyes widened, shocked that they were actually able to bring him back. “Really?! I… I can’t believe it! That’s...that’s insane. I don’t understand but…” I struggled to find the right words to match my emotions. “I… uh...  when can I see him?”

[I don’t know yet, Shinra will probably tell you when you can.]

[Right now it's probably best to let him recover.]

“How did they bring him back so fast?” I asked as I thought of the question.

She seemed to show a bit of excitement in her body language as she typed, then showed it to me: [This is an advanced facility that does a lot of research on different types of things. Shinra’s department was developing something just for him in the case that he actually did get into some serious trouble.]

“So what is this magical ‘thing’ that outdid my magick?” I asked, crossing my arms.

[He called it “STEP 2”.]

[It’s a type of gas that they can put on him stimulate his senses and bring him back to the other side.]

“Oh… well… that sounds… nice,” I said, hanging my head. “I'm just..glad he's alive.” Of course I was genuinely happy that he was alive, but I still couldn't help but to feel that I was useless in saving him…

Celty tapped my left shoulder to grab my attention, then typed something into her phone and showed it to me: [Hey, try not to be so hard on yourself.] She erased that then typed: [I know how you're feeling right now.] She seemed to rub her neck as if she were looking for the right words to say. She erased what she just wrote, then typed: [Just be prepared for anything and protect Shizuo as much as you can while he is in recovery. Because Izaya could come for him again at anytime. Shinra doesn't think that the STEP 2 gas could work as effectively again.]

I nodded, then said, “Of course, I won't let anything happen to him this time. I will stay by his side until he is recovered.”

Celty responded: [Good. I'm gonna head home and wait for Shinra to come home, what are you gonna do?]

“I don't know, I guess I'll stay here until i can see him.”

Celty responded: [Okay, well I'll see you tomorrow.]

On my way to the store, the walk I took in the cool, relaxing evening made me take interest in everything going on around me. I really noticed the people passing by on the sidewalk, the cars going in the opposite direction that i was facing, and giant screens on the colorful, tall buildings covering the news. It's so weird how this place is vastly different than what I'm used to in Salem, but I've somehow already gotten used to it. 

Is that what Anri meant when she said being here would begin to feel normal?

Once I made it to the store, I shopped around for things that I needed to get for the apartment such as paper towels, toilet paper, laundry detergent, etc. I thought about calling Erika and the others for a ride back, but I decided against it since I was only going to be getting one bag of groceries, plus I could take advantage of the exercise.

Something felt strange about this trip; it's almost as if someone is watching me? All through the shop, I stood in place for a second to see if I could sense any familiar energies, but once I thought I could feel one, the sensation vanished.

At the checkout lane, I put everything I needed in front of the cashier before feeling the obscure energy near me again.

Wha-- who is that? I thought as the impalpable energy fluctuated in and out of my senses. I looked in both directions to see if the energy would move closer to me or further.  It’s definitely not the energy of a spirit. It feels… oddly familiar? What is it?

“Excuse me?” The cashier brought my attention back to her, who had finished scanning my groceries quicker than expected. “That’ll be 1500 yen.”

I turned back to her, embarrassed that I let my senses get the better of me in the moment.

“Okay,” I dug my wallet out of my purse and paid the amount by cash. She stuffed my receipt in a brown paper bag along with my groceries, lifted up the groceries from the bottom and handed the whole bag to me, which i took from her the same way. She nodded and thanked me for shopping there, to which I nodded back and walked out of the store.

Upon leaving the store, I turned left and walked down the street to my apartment. The energy became more vibrant as I walked down the street, still mysterious as ever. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk holding my bag of groceries in both hands to see what the owner of this energy would do. As the energy came closer, it finally occurred to me that the owner of this energy was Manami. I can only assume that her energy is different this time because her intentions with me are different, and the only way to get my attention would be to stop me directly. I turned around to find her walking up to me, her hands gripping the straps of the pink backpack that was over her shoulders.

“Oh hey Manami, what are you doing here?” I asked, greeting her with a small smile.

She smiled back, despite her energy telling me that this smile was for show. “I was actually looking for you! Would you mind to come with me for a second? I want to talk to you.”

“Umm, how about I just give you my number?” I asked, politely dismissing her proposal to follow her. I saw no reason to trust her guidance. “I just bought groceries and I need to get them home.”

“I can see that, but it’ll only take a second.” She said rather cheerfully, keeping the act up.

I sighed, briefly pinching the bridge of my nose and mentally preparing myself for whatever this dangerous girl had in store for me, “Okay fine, but I need to go soon.”

“Don't worry, I promise I'll make it quick, just follow me.” She said as she turned around and walked the opposite direction. I followed behind her, adjusting my grip on my groceries. This was clearly a bad idea, but I did have unanswered questions that needed to be addressed. As I crossed the street with her, I sensed that she was leading me to the alleyway that stretched far off into the other side. I sensed the familiar sinister energy of… Blood Diamonds?

Could she really be working for Izaya? It was hard to say for sure, considering the hateful feelings she had towards him, but I really wanted to give her the benefit of a doubt.

“What is your obsession with alleyways?” I asked as we crossed the street.  

“None really,” she replied, slowly losing her sincerity on the surface. “It's where I like to talk business.”

“I don't have any business with you.” I said.

Oh yes you do, her resentment towards me was so strong that I was able to hear this crystal clear, unspoken thought as if it were my own. I continued to brace myself for whatever was coming.

Once we reached the alley, she fell behind me to check if anyone was coming. I quickly spun around as I felt the sudden intention of killing me cross her mind. The energy I associated Blood Diamond members became stronger as I walked further into the alley. Once she turned around, she waved her hand high over her head past me, as if she were signaling to someone behind me. Sure enough, the energy appeared the turn hostile as it swooped in behind me; I quickly perceived that whoever she was signaling to was waiting in the shadows to grab me. I took a deep breath in, and imagined myself in a small, strong bubble that could only cover me. On the exhale, I let my bag of groceries drop to the ground I allowed this image to manifest around me, the energies that approached me crashing into it. I turned to the left to find four men wearing red shirts, groaning as scrambled to their feet.

She really works for him! I thought as I stared in shock at the men behind me. I turned my attention back to Manami, who stared at me with a confused expression, but managed to keep her composure.

“No wonder he suddenly likes you so much,” she scoffed. “You're some kind of 'super-natural'. He hates them, but he sure loves destroying their lives.”

“That doesn’t matter right now,” I spat, strengthening the bubble around me. “If we’re gonna talk, I will be talking from this bubble until all of you leave. So what was it that you wanted to talk about? Business?” I asked, referring to her mention earlier.

She sighed, accepting the fact whatever laid before her was reality and what she had planned for me would now be ineffective. She waved her hand above her head again to signal to her group of Blood Diamonds, as if to shoo them off. As they walked past us and out of the entrance, some of them gave me suspicious looks as they walked past, their blended thoughts mixing into my own consciousness. I ignored them as I listened to her speak again, " I just wanted to know what kind of work you were doing for Izaya Orihara and why.”

“I’m not working for that psychopath and I never will,” I said. “I thought it was you working for him? Don’t you have some of his gang with you?”

“I still do,” she admitted. “But he screwed Rio and I out of luck, so I decided to stick to my original plan to exploit him for who he really is.”

“And who is he exactly?”

“I'm sure you have an idea, since he stabbed you,” she held her hand out to gesture my stab mark for proof. “Izaya is a psychotic, ruthless killer. He's very indirect with his methods, but with the right, sultry words, he has the capability to push people into certain things, such as the idea that killing themselves would make this world a better place. Rio and I were victims of that. A lot has happened since, such as dating Rio and agreeing to work with him to seek that he finally ate his own words. But he hasn't and he took over a project that belongs to me. So at this point, I want to bring him into the light and reveal to Tokyo that he is responsible for the suicide of twelve girls, who had taken their own lives because of his influence.”

“Twelve?!” I repeated, putting my hands over my mouth in horror. I pictured him in my mind, remembering the last few moments of his actions towards me. “Shit, I… I had no idea it was that bad. I suspected that he was a killer.”

“Well now you know, and you're gonna help me with this.” she said. She crossed her arms and added a stern tone in her voice  “I noticed that he was weirdly fascinated with you so I decided to find you myself, but you exposed yourself to us instead that day.”

“Both of your energies were strongly connected to him.” I said. "It was strange."

“And now you know why. Now that that I've filled you in, would you be willing to help us out?”

“What's in it for me?”

"I'm a lot less itching to murder you for spying on us.”

“That's ridiculous," I replied, taking her idea of their relationship as being too obsessive.

“Think of it this way,” she said. “You spied on us while we were spending time together, and we already have to put up with enough of his crap. You can make up for that by helping us out.”

Didn't she just want to kill me for following her? I thought. What made her change her mind? Was it because I showed off some of my power?

“Okay, fine,” I said. “I'll do it. But we should make a truce, or something. I don't wanna feel paranoid when you're around.”

“As long as you stay out of my private life, you'll have nothing to worry about.”

“Okay, then it's a deal.” I said, releasing the bubble around me.

“Making deals with the witch now, Manami?” an abrupt, familiar voice chimed in from behind her. She turned around, prompting me to look past her to see who it was.

It had been a couple of days since I seen him last; I watched in silence as the man who tried to kill me swung around from the side of the building to rest his elbow on Manami’s shoulder. Cunning as ever, he glared at me with the same malicious smile, as if he'd just dropped in on something he didn't want to miss. His strong energy that is exclusive to him seemed to pulse through the whole alley as he made his appearance, causing me to wince and instantly relive the day he almost took my life.

Manami smacked his arm away, making him laugh and spin in a circle. “You know you were supposed to look for a chance to destroy her, right? But instead you rummaged through my files for her information.”

“Fuck off,” Manami growled, drawing her tiny flick blade and slowly stepping back towards me.

Izaya laughed maniacally, with a small sense of playfulness. “What a shame. Once again, I’ve taken you under my wing and this is how you repay me? By stealing important information from me, then arranging a plan with the witch against me? It's like I don't even know you anymore! What did our mutual friendship mean nothing to you?"

“Don't talk to me like that, creep! Nothing I've done to you could even COMPARE to the pain you've put me through since I've met you!" She yelled, standing on her tip toes to be at his level of vision. "First you try to kill me, then you take something of mine that I built from the ground up?! Well I have news for you. I know what you've done, and I've finally got you figured out. You're much worse than I thought. You're a killer, and I am going to prove it. You will be sentenced to something much worse than death, and I'm gonna be there for the day that I get to see you rot like the scumbag you are. I will make you regret EVER crossing paths with me!”

I turned to Izaya, who laughed again, “You need to let that anger go. Do you know how belligerent you sound right now? Even if that were true, and even with the information you stole, you'll never be able to prove it.” he leaned in closer to her face and tilted her chin up with his forefinger, his face still plastered with that malicious smile. She lowered the knife in her hand, letting it dangle at her side as he inched closer to her face.  Nearly whispering, he said, “In fact, you're still as weak to me as the day you tried to kill me in the hospital. You are, and will always be, inferior to me.”

He took his finger off of her chin and backed away, grunting in approval and crossing his arms as if to admire his handiwork. She hung her head, with a shook, terrified expression on her face. I could sense that not only did she feel humiliated by him, but she felt defeated by his words. And he was enjoying it.

I took a deep breath in, imagining the anger I personally felt towards him, allowing flaming, hot fire to energetically manifest inside me. On the exhale, I formed a fireball in one hand, and began walking towards him. I stopped a few inches from him to keep my distance.

He turned his attention to me, taking note of my motives.

“You've already tried that magic trick on me and it didn't work out for you.” he said, noticing the fireball in my hand. As ready as I was to throw my fireball at him, I decided that I didn't want to make anymore of a scene than what was already happening. I stopped, letting the fire go out.

He let out a small chuckle, saying, “I knew you didn't have it in you. Well I'm done here, don't even think about returning to my office later, Manami. Au revoir. ” he said as he turned on one heel and walked away, leaving her with her head hung. She let the blade fall out of her hand and clink on the ground as she dropped to her knees and buried hed face into her hands.

My anger vanished as I looked at her, thinking of anything I could possibly do to help out. I understood how she felt all too well.

“Hey…” I started, beginning to put a hand on her shoulder.

“Don't.” she said, looking up at me. I stopped, then let my hand fall to the side.

“He'll pay for all of this some way or another." she said. "And I don't know how the hell you did all of that, but I know that i still need you on my side. So are you really willing to help me or not?”

“I told you I would.” I said, not giving it a second thought. Although i had more questions for her, I felt like I fully understood the circumstances of our new acquaintance  and that our motives are now in synergy.

“Great, I'll be in touch.” she said, picking up her blade off the ground. She stood up, put the blade in her pocket and pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket. She handed it to me, then shoved her hands in the pocket of her hoodie, turning and walking out of the entrance of the alley. I unfolded the piece of paper then took my phone out of my pocket to save her number. Finally, I looked up as I thought back to something…

I’ll be in touch? How could she do that if she didn’t take my number, but gave me hers instead? Oh wait… she was working for Izaya… Jeez, what have I gotten myself into this time? I'll still do it but if this “business” is going to work, she's going to have to stay true to her word. 

[Sorry for the long wait, here it is!]

Before Shizuo came over, I ran into my bathroom to check out my face and hair and made sure I looked decent enough for him. I caught my reflection in the mirror, aimlessly staring into it as I thought about my feelings for him.

I've fallen so hard for someone I've just met, I thought. Considering what I am and how I can normally see the future as if it were laid out on a piece of paper, love is still vague to me. Even now. I still don't know if it's just lust, or something that I can expect to continue to blossom. How can I tell?

I was startled from my thoughts as I heard a knock at the door. I turned out the light in the bathroom and ran to the door to let Shizuo in, greeting him. I watched him as he kicked his shoes off and set them down neatly beside the door. He wore his usual bartender outfit and sunglasses, which he took off and set on my kitchen table as he walked past it. He then sat down on the couch, me following closely behind.

He greeted me in return with the cute, small smile that he always offers, straightening up the collar on his pressed, white shirt. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine…” I started looked up to meet his deep brown eyes, captivated by him once again. He showed genuine concern for me in his face, especially in his eyes, as he asked that question. I could sense in his energy that he still feels that I’ve gone through so much since I’ve been here, but to be honest I wouldn’t have it any other way. His natural charismatic appearance was also very sensual; he had his undivided attention on me. I blushed as I noticed my own thoughts. Does he feel the same way that I do about him, or is it just me?

God fucking dammit , I thought, staring at him. What is it with him that makes me crazy?

“Umm, are you alright?” he asked, confounded.

“Sorry.. Umm, I just…” my train of thought and my words trailed off as I jumped into his arms, kissing him and allowing him to grip my ass again in sudden arousal. Instead of being too in the moment this time, we paused for a short breath and relished in the moment together before locking lips again. When we stopped, he held me in an embrace around my stomach as I sat in his lap, kissing my neck and playing with my hair.

“Mmm, I've missed this,” he said softly in my ear.  

“Same here, I've missed you especially.” I said softly back, causing him to smirk softly in approval to my remark.

“So about that booty call,” he said, moving back from my face slightly to meet mine. “Are we doing it here?”

“That's the idea.” I said. I jumped up from the couch, pulling him with me to my bedroom. I pulled him onto my bed, prompting him to lay down next to me. I wrapped myself into him to relax for a moment before we got started. We faced each other as he shoved his arm underneath my neck to play with my hair from behind my head and wrapped his other hand around my back. I caressed his face in one hand, capturing his gaze.

He looked in another direction as if to think back to something, saying, “I don’t know if you could tell, but people used to be scared of me. I think I’ve calmed down alot since we got together.”

“Oh really?” I asked, thinking of the things that Erika and Kyohei had said about him.

“Yeah,” he said. “I feel like I am more approachable by others now than I was before I met you. It’s really nice, and I feel grateful that you showed up when you did.”

“But I didn't do anything,” I said. “This is all you're doing; you are the one that's making yourself calm.”

“But i still have you to thank for it, I wouldn't have done it without you.” he said, kissing me on my left temple. “This is the happiest that I've been in a long time.”

“Oh!” I said excitedly, pleased that I've made this kind of impact on him. “That's... That's great to hear. So do you think it was fate and we were meant to be?” I asked, feeling a bit of spark in my eyes as I spoke.

“Eh, that stuff goes over my head, but you can call it whatever you want,” he said. “I’m calling it ‘perfect timing’.”

“Well whatever it is, I’m happy with it and don't want it to change.” I said, running my hand down his neck to his back.

“Me neither.” He said, also moving his hands all over me; mostly gliding them over my jawline, my neck and my shoulders, all while sending chills of pleasure throughout my body.

His warm, excited, and arousing energy was especially enticing, keeping me hanging onto every minute. I wondered if he ever felt the same energy from me as I did from him. It’s so exciting and comforting being in his presence no matter what we’re doing.

He leaned in to kiss me, cradling my jaw line in his hand as he made out with me. I followed suit by putting my hand on his shoulder as we made out further, eventually licking his bottom lip slightly to express that I wanted to French kiss. He then opened my mouth wider with his own lips to stick his tongue into my mouth and played around with mine.

I made the first move by breaking away from the kiss and ran my hand down his chest and stomach, all the way down to his groin, softly rubbing the outside of his pants with the palm of my hand. He moaned softly to my teasing, then ran his hand up my shirt and guided his fingers under my bra wire to grab one of my breasts, lifting my bra up slightly to use one of his fingers to flick my nipple. Familiar sensations rushed over me as i moaned and twitched to his warm, gentle, yet very dominant touch. His other hand preoccupied itself by unbuttoning my work pants and rubbing my pubic bone as if to further tease me.

It's so hard to go slow with this man, I thought as I gently pushed him off of me and into a lying position. I straddled his stomach, held his face in my hands and made out with him with my ass in the air. He pulled my pants down to my knees and placed his hands on my back before slowly rubbing them up my ass, pulling me in. His huge hands seemed to cup both of my ass cheeks as he held me against him, eventually rubbing them up and down from my ass cheeks and the back of my thighs.

The sensation was too good. I didn't want it to stop, and neither did he.

I sat up to pull my pants, shirt, and socks off, leaving me in just my underwear and bra. I threw them beside my bed and turned back to him to find him unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his shirt. I hovered over him so he could take off his pants and throw his clothes on the same side as mine, leaving him in his underwear. I sat down on his stomach and began to move down to his crotch but he interfered, throwing me off of him and onto my back.

“Nope,” he uttered as he went straight for my crotch, pulling my panties aside. His energy spiked in excitement and pleasure as he did so, showing that he was becoming more aroused by the minute. He positioned himself so that he could see directly inside of me, using his fingers to open me up and ran his pointer finger along the inner labia.

“You’re already soaked, (your name),” he said as he looked into me, “Your pussy is like a damn waterfall.” He then stuck two of his fingers inside of me, making me jerk to them as he fingered me. I looked down at him to find his face lost in pure ecstasy as he stared up at me, making our eyes lock together. For the first time, I finally felt comfortable enough to stare into his eyes as he stared at mine; it almost made me forget that he was fingering me.

Finally, he broke his gaze to go down on me, taking his fingers out of me and sucking on them as if to test taste me. It surprised me that he was more deviant this time, as if he found the same burst of confidence and comfort with me that I had found with him. He went face first into my crotch, his tongue flicking up and down from my clit to my perineum. I moaned in bliss, wrapping one hand behind the headboard and biting down the fingers of my other hand to keep myself from screaming. He reached one hand up to move my bra off of my tits and grabbed onto one of them.

“Fuckk Shizuo,” I moaned. “You're so fucking good. This is much better than last time.”

“You handle me so well.” He said between breaths from my crotch.

“Are you kidding me?!” I huffed. “If that's the case then I can’t imagine how other women handled you!”

“They couldn’t handle me at all.” He said as he sat up and and pulled down his boxers, revealing his large, erect dick to me.  Despite feeling I was dripping wet, he lubricated himself further by spitting on his hand and rubbing it on his shaft.

This time he took me by surprise again by pulling my underwear down instead of leaving them on, allowing me to kick them off onto the ground. He opened my legs up, grabbed his dick, and shoved himself inside of me. I moaned loudly as I took my hands from the headboard and enlaced my fingers around his neck as he thrusted me. The familiar sensation of pain and pleasure rushed over me as I beared through the first few seconds.

“Unhhhh,” I moaned as I became light headed by the sex and intimacy, making the pain of his thrusts subside little by little. The head high I felt could not compare to the mix of emotions I felt from Shizuo as he gave off a mixture of bliss, excitement, and wishing that he could last all night. I guess even a man with his strength has a limit on sexual stamina.

This lasted a while until he asked me to get on top of him in a cowgirl position. He pulled out of me to lay down as I got on top of him. I groaned as I eased onto him, feeling every inch of him literally all the way up to my stomach. My head high feeling continued to make the pain from him cease as he looked up at me and began thrusting. I put my hands down on either side of this body and moved myself up and down to his movements. He lifted himself up slightly to kiss me, saying, “I love seeing you like this.”

I smiled and blushed, causing him to pull me into him, kissing me and fucking me that way until he came inside of me again.

“Goddamn,” he said as he finished, breathing heavily. I released everything, flopping down on my chest onto him as i caught my breath.

“That was… fun.” I said. “Much better than last time.”

“Glad you enjoyed it.” he said, putting his hand on my back and i nuzzled my head in the nape of his neck for a break. I let him stay inside of me even after his boner went away.

I paused for a second after remembering my plan to put up a barrier then said to him, “So I put together a spell for the barrier, did you still want me to put one up in your apartment?”

“Yeah,” he said, rubbing my back.

“Okay, will do.” I replied, feeling myself losing consciousness.

************************

The next day I woke up, realizing I had fallen asleep on his chest. He was passed out underneath of me, his head turned to the right and showing that he didn't mind. His energy was light and mellow as he slept.

I lifted myself off of him, allowing his cum to slip out of me and onto his pubic bone. I got up and ran to the bathroom to grab a towel and wipe his cum off of me. I took the towel into my room and softly rubbed it off of him as well. He turned on his side as i did so but surprisingly did not wake up, making him lay his arm out and put his hand under his head.

He's a heavy sleeper , I thought as I took the towel back to the bathroom and put it in the hamper. I quickly washed my face and brushed my teeth, then went back to the bedroom to put on a fresh change of clothes. I put on some socks as well for my shopping trip later on that day. Finally, I picked my work clothes off the ground, folded them, and neatly stacked them on my dresser for the next day.

It was a good thing I had the day off, tonight I'm gonna perform the protection barrier to keep Izaya out of our space for the time being.

I went to my living room to check my phone and make a pot of coffee, hoping that the smell of freshly brewed coffee would wake him up.

The time was 9am. I'm not exactly sure how I did it because I'm normally not a morning person but I've already gotten used to the huge time difference here. Maybe that nap that i took on the plane on the way here helped with that. I checked my phone to see that Erika had texted me:

 [ I miss you! Come hang out with us soon!!]

I texted her back:

 [ I miss you too! I'll hang out sometime tomorrow or the day after, sorry I've been so busy lately!]

I set my phone down on the counter to finish getting the coffee brewed. The sweet familiar aroma filled the room, and sure enough I felt his energy rise, telling me that he was awake and putting his clothes on. I smiled excitedly and tried to contain myself, remembering how happy I felt to be with him.

His energy came closer as he entered the living room. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my chest. Because of his height compared to mine, he leaned forward to rest his head onto mine. I put my hands on his arms and squeezed them in awareness that he was there.

“‘'Morning,” he said.

“‘'Morning,” I replied.

“I thought I smelt coffee.” he said.

“Yup.”

“You’re a barista, shouldn't you hate coffee by now?” he asked, taking his arms off of me and taking a step back.

“Not really,” I said. “I'll always love coffee no matter what. Plus I thought it'd wake you from your slumber.”

I turned around to look at him as he smirked. He didn't exactly get fully dressed; he had only put on his pants, showing off his chest and the scar that he had across it; I’d been meaning to ask him about it at some point.

“I've been told I was a heavy sleeper.” he commented, scratching his head.

“You are!” I exclaimed. “You would've never known I wiped jizz off of you!”

“You did?” he laughed.

“Yeah, i had some of your cream fall out of me.” I laughed as I poured coffee into two prepared coffee mugs.

I suddenly remembered that I still had part of his uniform from the night he was shot; I'd washed it, sewn it, and left it in a drawer in my room. I handed him his cup and said, “You left your shirt and vest here, I folded them up and put them in my dresser.”

“Oh thanks,” he said, holding his cup with one hand and walking over to the couch to sit down. “I completely forgot about them. Have I told you why I wear that bartender outfit all the time?” he asked before taking a sip of his coffee.

“I don't think so.” I replied, taking a sip and following him to the couch.

“Believe it or not, I was a bartender. My little brother Kasuka got those outfits for me because it was the first job I stayed at for more than a couple of weeks. But that then that cockroach swooped in and fucked it up..” I felt a rise in his energy at thought of mentioning him. He took a minute to calm down before his energy returned to neutral and he continued his story, “Even with the job I have now, I wear it anyway because it reminds me to keep trying for him.”

“I didn't know you had a brother,” I commented. “You’ve never talked about him before.”

“Yeah, well we're distant now because his life is more demanding than mine but that's okay, we catch up when we have the chance.” his energy had indicated that he didn't want to talk about his relationship with his brother any more than what he already said, so i decided not to pry into it any further by changing the subject.

“Do you like the coffee?” I asked as i took a sip.

“Yeah,” he smiled. “You're really good at this coffee thing.”

I laughed at his comment, “Yeah, became a bit of an obsession since I learned that it has amazing health benefits.”

“There's nothing healthy about being short.” he joked, putting his hand on my head to prove the size difference between us. I've noticed that I was much shorter than him, literally coming up to the top of his shoulders, but he shouldn't use that against me. I ducked away from his hand so that it would not touch his hand.

“You're the worst.” I joked back, taking another sip of my coffee. I sensed the sudden vibration of his cell phone ringing in his pocket. He groaned as if he already knew who it was, taking it out of his pants pocket and answering it, “Yeah?”

“Shizuo, where are you?! You were supposed to be here an hour ago!” Tom’s voice shouted from the other line. “Don't tell me you're quitting for that American chick you just met!”

I smirked, knowing this was entirely untrue, but said nothing as Shizuo replied, “Come on Tom, you would know if I were ready to quit.”

Tom sighed. “This is true. Just hurry up and get down here, will ya? We’ve got a lot to do today.”

“Okay I'm on my way.” he said, hanging up the line.

“Time for work?” I asked.

“Yep.” he said, chugging the last of his coffee and walking over to the sink to wash his mug. Sipping on my cup, I sat down at the kitchen table and watched him as he put his clean mug away in my kitchen cabinet and went to my room to grab his white dress shirt and the vest that he left, then came back into the living room to put it on. He seemed to be in no rush as he buttoned his white shirt up and put on his black vest, putting on and tying his bow tie at the end. He grabbed his sunglasses off the kitchen table and put them on too.

He sighed as he walked over to me to give me a  hug and a kiss. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay, I’ll let you out.” I said as I walked with him to the door. He put his shoes on, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and walked out the door and down the steps as I shut it behind him and locked it behind him.

I sighed and sat down at the kitchen table to make a quick list of what I needed to buy for the apartment. After getting ready I walked out the door, turning around to put up a barrier to keep any intruders out.

Can’t wait to perform that spell tonight , I thought as I walked down the street to the grocery store, also thinking about the long and exciting night that I had with Shizuo.

Upon walking through the door of the coffee shop, I was greeted with relieved welcomes and hugs from the other baristas. I clocked in and made Anri the coffee I owed her for walking to work with me. She took the cup of coffee from me, bowed her head and walked out the door to meet up with the friend that she mentioned earlier. After a couple of hours, the owner came up to me with his hands crossed over his chest, as if he were upset with me. I could feel in his energy that he was more concerned with my health than upset.

“You should go home and rest,” he said. “Didn't you just get out of the hospital?”

“Aw come on, I need the money,” I pleaded. “Just a couple more hours then I'll go home, alright?”

The owner sighed, “Okay, fine, but I’m going to clock you out around evening time when the second shift comes in so that you can go home and rest.”

“Sounds good to me!” I said cheerfully.

Work was going as well as it normally did. I flipped back and forth between working the register and making drinks, all while carefully minding the spot where I was stabbed. About 30 mins before I left I noticed a certain female couple walk through the door. Although it was becoming more common to see female couples in Tokyo, this particular couple stood out to me. Both of the girls had small frames and were the same height. One of the girls appeared to be a bit more timid than the other; she had auburn-dyed hair that was pulled back into two high pigtails on both sides of her head and wore very simplistic clothing. She clung onto her girlfriend's arm, who had square-rimmed glasses and short ginger-dyed hair that she wore half down, with the other half pulled up into a tiny pigtail on the side of her head. She wore much darker clothing, a dangling evil-eye necklace, and a small pink backpack.

Time seemed to stop around me as they walked through the door. They were very different, but somehow they were very clearly tied together by something. They both appeared to to have calm energies but the thought of something, someone , rested in the back of their minds. I wonder what might’ve brought them together? Fate, maybe?

... Izaya… My intuition rang that particular buzzword as I studied the girls.

Izaya? I thought. It seemed to make more sense to me as I gathered from the girls that he has affected both of their lives in more way than one, and not in a good way. 

Just like he has affected mine...

“Umm, hello?” the girl with the side pigtail interrupted my thoughts. The couple that had just  walked in the door appeared quickly in front of me as I was daydreaming.

“Oh, um, I'm sorry.” I stammered, walking up to the register. “I... Umm… what can I get for you today?”

She gave me a somewhat suspicious look before saying, “Can I get a medium hazelnut iced coffee with no cream or sugar?”

“Okay.” I quickly punched her order onto the register screen. I turned to the timid pigtailed lady, “And for you?”

“I'll take a medium mocha macchiato on ice.” the girl spoke in a soft voice, breaking away slightly from the other girl to hold her hand.

“Okay, anything else?” I looked at both of the girls.

“No that's it.” the girl with the half pigtail replied.

“Alrighty.” I accepted their final order in the register and gave them their total. The girl with the half pigtail pulled out her wallet and swiped a credit card, putting the payment through to the register. After giving her their receipt, I pulled out two medium sized cups. I looked at the girl with the side pigtail and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Manami.” she said flatly.

“Okay.” I mentally took note of her name as I scrawled it in Japanese writing and slid the cup down the line to the barista making drinks. I picked up the other medium cup and looked to the other girl.

“And your name?” I asked.

“Rio.” she said.

“Okay.” I wrote her name on the cup, taking mental note of her name as well, and slid her cup down the line as well.

“Alrighty, thank you so much, we'll have them ready for you in a couple of moments.” I said, bowing slightly.

“Thank you.” Rio said, walking with Manami to the other end of the counter. I watched them as they turned their backs to me, talking and laughing amongst each other. They definitely stood out like no other couple I've ever seen before; probably because of the fact that they are so different and were tied together by whatever that Izaya has put them through. However, though watching them interact with each other I can see that they are very happy with each other.

I then watched as they took their drinks from the opposite end of the counter and went to a clean table to sit and sip on their drinks. They practically sat there until the end of my shift, Manami’s eyes meeting mine every so often. Every time our gazes met I’d look away quickly and pretend that I was busy with something else.

At the end of my shift I decided I would follow them to see if they would return to Izaya. After they left I waited a couple of minutes before letting the owner clock me out and following them from further behind to their destination.

At first they didn't seem to catch on, but after about a minute of following them I felt a sensation that Manami could sense they were being followed. Every time she looked back I quickly hid behind a trash can or wall to keep myself from being seen. After about five minutes of following them I watched Manami grab Rio's and pull her into an alleyway, sensing that they knew for a fact that someone was onto them and they were going to find out who was following them. I stopped about a few steps before the opening.

Shit, I think I already have an idea of where this is going , I thought. They know I'm onto them, but this can go one of two ways, either they try to attack me or they'll remain calm as I come out. I'll explain everything the best that I can without revealing what I am.

I took a deep breath in and shielded my stab wound in case I was attacked. I breathed out and walked into the entrance of the alleyway.

As expected, a shadow came from my left and pinned me on the ground.

“Unf!” I exclaimed as my back hit the ground. I kept my head lifted before hitting the ground so that I would not receive any head injuries. I looked up to see an enraged Manami pointing the edge of a small blade in my face. She pinned me down by straddling onto my stomach, keeping my arms pinned down by my sides under her legs.

“Rio, hold her legs down!” She yelled over her shoulder. I felt the energy of Rio coming up to us to hold my legs down with her hands.

“I was right, you were following us!” she exclaimed. “You're the barista that took our order at the coffee shop!”

“No shit.” I said sarcastically.

“Don't get smart with me!” she spat at me, shaking her blade inches away from the bridge of my nose. “Now you're gonna tell me who the fuck you are and why you following us before I carve a love note on your pretty face.”

“Aw come on, I'd really hate for you to do that to me.” I said in a sarcastic tone, not frightened at all by her predictable motives. “I'm a foreigner here, and I've already been stabbed once by Izaya Orihara.”

The expression on her face changed from anger to amusement before letting out a small smirk. “Izaya, huh? So you're involved with him too? No wonder you were following us, you're a creep just like him. Did he send you to spy on us?”

“No, he's nothing more to me than an annoying tick at my side.” I said, referring to Shizuo’s choice of words and the stabbing.

“Bullshit,” she said. “You’re working for him, otherwise you wouldn't have been following us!”

She then held the knife up and over her head and then began to bring it down to my face.

I winced, preparing for the second stab I was about to take, until familiar smoky shadows wrapped around her hand before the tip of the blade could meet my face, stopping her in her tracks. After looking down to see what had stopped her, she screamed and jumped off of me, causing Rio to back off of me as well. I jumped to my feet and ran to the entrance of the alley, spotting Celty and hopping on the back of her bike. She revved Shooter and sped off down the road, her bike giving off other-worldly neighs along the way.

“Hey Celty, thanks for saving my ass back there!” I said. “How did you find me?”

She summoned her phone from her sleeve to type to me: [I was on a job and sensed your aura nearby, so I thought I’d stop by and say hi.]

I chuckled. “Looks like you had to do more than that for me. I’d hate to ask but would you mind to drop me off at my apartment?”

[Sure. So what happened back there, why did that girl have you pinned on the ground?]

“Well she and her girlfriend came by the coffee shop, it was weird but I kept sensing that they both had a connection to Izaya. So after I got off work I followed them to see if they would go back to him but instead I was almost stabbed again.”

[I think I recognized both of those girls.]

“Huh? Both of them?”

[Yeah, he's had me transport both of them at separate times after one of his sick little games that he was playing with them.]

“Wait a minute, you worked for Izaya?!” I asked, shocked that she would’ve even considered such a thing.

She facepalmed her helmet lightly, then typed into her phone: [Yeah, a long time ago, but that’s a story for another day.]

[Anyway, so I guess you didn’t get any dirt from them.]

I sighed. “I don’t know, maybe I’ll run into them again at some point. But as far as dealing with Izaya goes, Shizuo and I did some brainstorming while I was in the hospital and I decided that I was going to cast a protection spell over my and Shizuo’s apartment to keep him away, which is why I asked you for his birthdate earlier. Plus if he were to step near any of the barriers, I’d know right away. Would you and Shinra like me to place one over your apartment too?”

She seemed to think about it for a minute before typing: [I appreciate it, but you don’t have to worry about us. ]

[Izaya isn’t dumb enough to mess with us like that.]

“Okay, suit yourself.” I shrugged. She finally came to a stop at my apartment to let me off.

She typed in her phone, then showed it to me: [Here’s your stop, see you later.]

“Sure thing, thank you for the lift and again for saving me!” I waved to her as she sped off down the street, her bike neighing loudly as they took off down the street.

Once I got up to the door of my apartment, the shield on my door vanished, revealing to me that my apartment was safe from any intruders. Once I stepped inside and locked the door, I kicked my shoes off next to the door and flopped down onto my couch. Everything had stayed exactly how I left it before I left for the day; my laptop and my Book of Shadows remained unscathed on my coffee table.

I’ll have to perform the spell tomorrow, I thought. Right now, I need some much needed alone time with Shizuo. I turned my phone on and gave him a call.

“Yes?” he answered.

“Hey, are you busy?”

“Not particularly.” He said, showing a small spark of excitement in his voice.

“Wanna come over?” I asked, changing to an aroused tone of voice.

“Are you booty calling me right now? Is this what this is?” he smirked.

“Maybe, why don’t you come over and find out?” I teased.

He laughed. “Alright, I’ll be over in a minute.”

“Okay, see ya then.”

“Mhm, bye.”

“Bye.” I hung up the phone, awaiting Shizuo’s arrival.

[So I’ve decided I’m going to end this fanfic at chapter 20 then move on to a brand new Durarara related fanfic. There’s only going to be mentions of Shizuo during these next couple of chapters, but a lott of plot development! Enjoy! <3]

As promised, I was released from the hospital the next day, and I couldn't have been more ecstatic to finally be out of there. Upon leaving the hospital, I made a promise to myself that until Izaya is caught I will not let my guard down and that I will keep barriers up wherever I go until he is dealt with once and for all.

Erika and the van gang, with the exception of Walker, swung by to pick me up from the hospital and took me back to my apartment. Erika talked my ear off almost the whole way there.

“I’m so excited you’re finally out!” She pipped excitedly. “Did ya hear there’s an anime con coming up in the next couple of weeks?”

“No I didn’t,” I said, finally giving her my ears. Anime cons always sounded so exciting here; it’d actually be really fun to go to one. “Where is it going to be?”

“It’s going to be at the Sunshine City Convention Center!” She said excitedly. “You should go with us! Everyone from my cosplay group is going to be there, it’ll be a lot of fun!”

"I’m sure it will be!” I said. “Do you know who you’re going to go as?”

“We decided that we were going to group cosplay as the girls from Angel Beats!” Erika said. “I’m for sure going as Yuri, Kanai wants to go as Yui, Azusa wants to go as Shiina, so… is there anyone from Angel Beats that you wanna cosplay?”

“Is Kanade taken by anyone?” I asked.

“Actually, no she isn’t!” Erika’s jaw seemed to drop as she thought about it. “You’d be so perfect as her, (your name)! You two are actually kind of alike in a way! All you need is her outfit, a wig that matches her hair, and some matching contacts! Oooh this’ll be so exciting!”

“Yeah I can't wait!” I said excitedly with her. “I'll have to order my costume online as soon as I get home, do you think it would be here in time before the con?”

“It should be,” she said.

“Well I am definitely attending this!” I said excitedly. I noticed that Kyohei and Saburo were quiet the entire time I've been in the van with them.

“Hey, you guys have been quiet up there, are you two okay?”

“Yep, we were just letting you have your little nerd fest back there.” Saburo teased.

“So have you thought about how you're going to deal with Izaya yet?” Kyohei asked, changing the conversation.

“We've been brainstorming,” I said.

“Okay,” Kyohei replied, resting his elbow on the window as we rode to my apartment. “What exactly is he planning? Why did he even attack you in the first place?”

“Celty still thinks its because of my relationship with Shizuo,” I stated. “So now that he sees him happy, he can't stand it; so he's going after the both of us.”

“Ugh, this is pointless, Izaya.” he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “Well, you already know that if you need help from us then you can call Erika.”

“Yep I do, you guys are awesome,” I said thankfully.

“Heh no problem at all.” he said. We came to a stop as we pulled up to my apartment.

“Off ya go!” Saburo said as he parked.

“You gonna be alright by yourself in there?” Kyohei said as I got out of the van.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I said as he rolled down his window to talk to me. “I’m probably gonna see if I could go work for a bit, I need the money.”

“We thought you lost your job.” Erika said out of the open van door.

“No, Shizuo went up to my job and told them what happened, and apparently they told him that I can return to work when I felt better.” I said.

“Oh okay, well we’ll come by sometime!” Erika clapped her hands together. “Also, don’t forget to order your costume for the anime con!” she said as she shut the van door.

“We’re gonna head out, be careful out there, okay?” Kyohei warned.

I nodded to him and waved before they drove off. Something did seem a bit off about him as he spoke to me, so I gave it some thought on the way up the steps to my apartment. I noticed that his energy gave off a genuine concern for me. I didn’t notice it before but he also gave off an energy to me that he had had a very recent incident that shaped him into who he is now, a more kind and caring soul that seeks to help others through their troubles much like he himself had experienced in the past. I wonder if…  

...Car accident ...  the buzzwords rang through my head as I thought about what that could’ve been.

Huh, my intuition is never wrong, I thought as I unlocked the door. Maybe he feels like he needs to be a bit more protective over me because he also had a traumatic accident much like I had recently? I guess it made sense for him to be that way. Especially since I’ve heard that he was looked up to by a lot of people here.

I decided not to give it much more thought as I stepped inside of my apartment and locked the door behind me. The place was still kind of a mess because of Izaya’s invasion; some of my books were strewn on the ground, my box of supplies that I kept in my room was drug out into the living room and pilfered through. I sighed as I cleaned up the mess and put everything back in it’s place. I brought a dragonsblood incense into the living room and lit it, sticking the other end into the burner. I breathed in the refreshing smell of the incense, the sensation I felt as I exhaled instantly calming me.  Despite the mess in my living room, I didn’t realize how much I missed this place until I stepped through the door and came into contact with the familiar sights and smells of my ingredients, incense, crystals, and herbs. All of these things were my own, and that was not going to change, no matter who tried to invade my personal life.

After cleaning up the mess, I brought my laptop into the living room and set it down on the coffee table so that I could order my Kanade Tachibana outfit, wig, and contacts. I opted for an outfit that was a size bigger than what I’m used to wearing, because I knew it would probably fit me best.

I chuckled to myself as I placed the order for the cosplay set. Who knew that a witch such as myself was also into cosplaying? I guess it would seem a bit odd to some, but for me, this was my chosen lifestyle.

Next, I closed my laptop and brought out some ingredients to prepare my protection spell. I also pulled out my Book of Shadows and pen to aid me in creating the perfect spell to keep out the likes of Izaya.

I flipped through my book to a clean page and wrote in the header, Protection Spell.

Underneath of it, I wrote out some columns geared towards helping me build the spell.

Astral candle:

Day candle:

Moon phase:

Hour:

Intention:

Crystals:

According to the old ways, how you used each of these columns are very important when it came to spell building. “Astral candle” is a candle that I will associate to the target’s star sign.

Now that I thought about it, I never got to know him well enough to even know what his birthday is. I picked up my phone to text Celty,

 [ Hey, I know this might be weird, but would you happen to know what Izaya’s birthday is? I’m preparing a spell.]

I waited a few moments before she texted me back, saying,

  [Shinra might know, let me ask him.]

I set my phone down so continue building the spell. “Day candle” is the day of the week that would be best to perform this spell on and an associated candle color. I had a whole list written down in my Book of Shadows that allowed me to easily look this up. After finding the direct association, I found that this spell would best be performed on a Tuesday and its color association would be red. I flipped to the page I was writing my spell down on and wrote Tuesday (red)  next to “day candle:”. I felt a buzz come from my phone to see the text back from Celty:

 [ Shinra said it’s May 4th.]

  [ Okay thanks, I’ll explain what I’m doing the next time I see you. ]

 [ Just be careful. ] Celty texted back.

I set the phone down so that I could finish preparing the spell. Celty just told me that Izaya’s birthday is on May 4th, meaning that he is a Taurus. I found in my Book of Shadows that the astral candle I would pick for him would be a red candle. I made note of this next to “astral candle:”. Next to “moon phase:”, I wrote “waning”, meaning that I would perform this spell on a waning moon phase, because waning moon phases are best for performing protection spells or spells where you are trying to get closure on something big.

I found that the best time of the day to perform this spell would be at 10 P.M. because that time would best be suited for my intention. I noted that next to “Hour:”. For my intention, I wrote, “Protection from Izaya Orihara, no matter where this spell is cast”. And finally, after skimming through one of my crystal books, I wrote down “smokey quartz”, “amethyst”, and “obsidian” next to “crystals;”. I figured it’d probably best to go ahead and prepare the written part of the spell next, but then decided against it since I’ve been great at coming up with the words in the midst of performing a spell. I looked over what I had written, marked the page by bending the top left corner of the page down, then closed the book. I took a breath out, relieved the building part of the spell is over. For me, preparing the spell is usually the most time consuming part of spell working, but proves to be very effective if I plan out what I’m going to do before I do it.

I set my books down on the coffee table next to my laptop and went into my room to change into my work clothes.

Hopefully they’ll let me back in since I was gone for so long , I thought. I grabbed my keys, walked out the front door and closed it behind me, locking it. For extra, but temporary protection, I took a deep breath in, imagined the color red and a shield over my door. I let it out, allowing the image I seen in my head to manifest in front of me. A transparent shield covered the front door of my apartment, which will hold until I return from work.

After shielding my front door, I felt a familiar suppressed energy to my left. I look over to find Anri coming out of her apartment too. She wore her black hoodie dress that showed off her surprisingly curvy figure rather well.

“Oh hey, Anri,” I smiled. She turned to face me, her eyes widening.

“(your name)!” Anri gasped, “When did you get out of the hospital?”

“Today, actually,” I said.

“Really? And you’re going to work? Shouldn’t you stay home?”

“I mean, I feel fine right now so I figured I should go work for a bit to catch up on rent and what not.” I said, rubbing my left side where I was stabbed. It only seemed to hurt whenever I made sudden sharp movements, which I decided that I would be careful on.

“Okay, if you think you’re okay then go for it.” Anri shrugged. “Well, I have to go, I’ll talk to you later.” She bowed to me then walked past me down the steps.

“See ya.” I walked down the steps behind her to head off to work. As she began to turn in the opposite direction that I was going, I suddenly remembered about the day I was stabbed, the shadowy figure that attacked Izaya, and how Shizuo referred to it as “Saika girl”.

If she isn’t too busy I should probably ask her about it before she takes off, I thought.

“Hey Anri!” I called out to her.

She turned around to look at me. “Hmm?”

“Are you super busy?”

“Well I was going to go meet up with one of my friends, but that’s not too important at the moment, I guess, What is it?”

“I need to talk to you about something, would you mind to walk with me to work? I’ll make you a free coffee.”

“Um okay, sure,” She walked up to me and fell in step with me as we walked down our quiet street to the coffee shop.

“So what is it?” Anri asked.

“I’m just curious about something.” I began. “Shizuo called you ‘Saika girl’ and said that you were the one that stopped Izaya the day he stabbed me, do you have any idea what that means?”

“Oh, ummm…” She appeared hesitant to answer me, and upon asking her I thought I could sense a… very… hungry, evil, and obsessive energy coming off of her. It felt very strange since she normally somehow suppresses her energy; it's almost as if it decided to seep through for a split second upon my questioning. Is this why she does so? I honestly can’t ever imagine her being associated to the energy I just felt.

I heard her grunt, but she didn’t answer my question.

“Anri? Are you hiding something? Something… unnatural?”

She hung her head down slightly and frowned as we walked, as if she felt ashamed and embarrassed.

“If you are, its okay. I could feel it, and I can understand why you don’t want anyone knowing about it.”

She remained unresponsive. I felt kind of horrible, as if I were interrogating her.

“I’m sorry, if you don’t want to talk about it then I understand. If it makes you feel any better, I’m not exactly a human either.” I leaned in towards her to half-whisper, “I’m a witch.”

I caught her eyes widen at my revelation, but she still did not look up or ask about it. Unsure of what to do, I moved back from her and said, “I know it may not seem like it since I got myself stabbed, but this is who I’ve been since I was a little girl. I could demonstrate some of my power, but I’ve already had enough suspicion of that online.”

“I know what you are.” She said hastily as she finally spoke.

“You what?” I looked up, confused, “How?”

“Saika told me when it had first sensed you,” she looked up at me to finally meet my gaze. “One of the reasons I brought you cookies that day was because Saika and I were curious of you. ”

“Oh,” I said, slightly confused. “So what exactly is Saika then? Is it, like, a voice in your head or something? I can tell that it’s very strong and that you have to keep it suppressed.”

“You’re right,” Anri said. She looked down as she held up her hand. Suddenly, it appeared as if the tip of a blade flew up out of the palm her hand. The blade that she showed me had a very distinct silver glow to it, just like the shadowy figure had. The blade literally had its own red aura.

“Whoa!” I said, a bit taken back. So it was her! I was fascinated by her strange power, but something else had also came to mind upon seeing it.

“Wait a minute, that blade kind of tiny. The figure that I seen that night had a whole katana.”

“This is it,” she said. “This is only a piece of it so that I could show it to you. This is a demon blade called Saika.” The blade then seeped back into the palm of her hand as she put her hand down. “It has an obsession with loving the human race. Where we express our fondness through words and actions such as hugging or kissing, it can’t love like us because it is a sword, so it loves by cutting humans and making them it’s ‘children’. The way it does so is that it cuts someone it possesses it like a host, making them have glowing red eyes while under its possession and making them slash others to create other smaller saikas.

“There are a few others like me that can keep Saika from taking over our bodies, but for others no so much,” she continued. “I’ve met a girl that was driven crazy by Saika’s influence. And I’ve met a woman that was able to modify her Saika.”

“Oh wow, that’s… that’s kind of scary, but kind of cool.” I said. “Have you considered having it removed?”

“I can’t,” she said. “If it weren’t for Saika, I wouldn’t be alive right now. I am repaying my debt to it by allowing it to live inside of me, but not allowing it to take over my body.”

“Oh okay, I see, so you’ve made kind of a pact with it.”

She nodded. We stopped outside of the coffee shop to finish our conversation.

“Okay,” I said. “Well, I just wanted to say thanks for attacking Izaya before he got away with some of my blood on his knife. Not like he really knew how to use it to begin with.” I smirked.

She made a small laugh as well. “Yeah. And its no problem, I’m sure you would’ve done the same for me if the roles were reversed.”

Shizuo sat with me every day for the next two weeks while I recovered in the hospital, only leaving for work. During that time I was visited by everyone that I’ve made friends with here, even Celty and Shinra. Everyone was really nice to me while I recovered, sitting with me and keeping me company while Shizuo worked.

Upon waking up, I had felt very weak and was unable to use any kind of magic besides sensing energy. But after about a week of regaining my strength, I found that I was finally able to pass a fireball in my hands without it going out or scorching my hands. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

The sharp pain in my side ceased more and more everyday as I recovered. I was finally able to walk around again without pain and take care of myself on my own.

Whenever Shizuo was there, he’d sit in his chair beside me or help me with whatever I needed.

Today, he watched me as I practiced passing a fireball in my hand and making the energy in my hands visible.

“You’ve gotta teach me how to do that sometime,” Shizuo said in amazement.

“Maybe one day,” I replied. It wouldn’t exactly be easy to teach him magic because you need to have been born in a coven family to be able to grasp the magic my family possesses, but it's fun to play with the idea of it. I let my fireball extinguish in my hand. “You should teach me how to mix a couple of drinks.”

He chuckled, showing off a cultivated grin. “Yeah, I could show you a thing or two.”

“And I thought you wore that bartender outfit for fun.” I teased, captivated by him as I spoke. He sat in his chair with it turned backwards and his arms resting on the back of it. He wore his usual bartender outfit but with the bowtie undone, hanging off the side of his neck and his white shirt undone slightly at the top.

“There's a lot you don't know about me.” He teased back.

“I have ways of finding out.” I smiled, sitting up and ready to pounce on him and attack him with kisses. I’ve spent a lot of time in the hospital recovering, and it's been awhile since Shizuo and I have had any alone time, so it'll be a nice surprise for him.

“Oh yeah? How so?” he raised his brow and crossed his arms as a challenge.

I stood up and walked over to him, holding his face in my hands and kissing him on the lips.

“By seducing you, of course.” I said as I pulled back slightly.

Shizuo laughed aloud at my words, then uncrossed his arms and stood up from his chair to pick me up and carry me over to the hospital bed, kissing me on the way. He laid me down gently on the bed as he kissed me, then crawled over me to get on the other side of the tiny hospital bed.

I felt as if we were in Paradise for a brief moment until we heard a knock at the door, causing both of us to jump. Shizuo sat up and placed his feet on the ground, tousling his hair and putting his bowtie on correctly. I sat up and pulled my low cut shirt back over my cleavage.

“Come in!” I shouted towards the door. The lovely and sweet nurse that took care of me in the afternoon came in with a familiar sweet smile on her face.

“Hi Miss (last name)!” she said cheerfully. “I'm glad to see that you're making progress in your recovery! And you're scheduled to be discharged tomorrow, how exciting! Are you doing okay today?”

“Yeah I'm great, thank you!” I smiled back.

“Good to hear!” she said as she clapped her hands together. “So I have an officer here that would like to speak to you about what happened the day you were stabbed. Can i go ahead and let him in?”

I tensed up. I felt Shizuo tense up as well. I reached my hand up to the small of his back in attempt to calm him down.

“Yes that's fine,” I said.

I hope they don't try to interrogate me about the video, I thought.

“Okay, great!” she smiled and pushed the door open to let an officer in the door. He wore a japanese officer uniform, had short black hair and…. My eyes widened as i noticed the cross mark on his cheek.

Oh shit that's Officer Kuzuhara, the cop that chased Celty and I around! I thought. Shit shit, this is bad, really bad. I really just hope that he doesn't recognize me. I took a deep breath in, quickly masked my inhuman energy, then slowly exhaled. The nurse shut the door behind her as she left us in the room with the pushy and persistent officer.

“Hey there Miss (last name).” he gave off a cunning smile. He then looked at Shizuo frowned, saying,”Oh, I see you brought this shit stain to the party.”

“I could say the same thing about you.” Shizuo scoffed, crossing his arms. “What do you want?”

Kuzuhara waved his hand at Shizuo as if to shoo him off. “My business here today is with Miss (last name) alone. Would you mind stepping out so I can speak to her?”

“Fine, you better watch what you say to her, or your ass is grass.” Shizuo shoved his pointer finger in his face to emphasize his point. I felt a chill run down my spine as he spoke. Normal people would’ve been terrified by Shizuo’s words, even myself after seeing his power. However, Kuzuhara kept his composure and showed in his energy that he was not fazed by Shizuo’s threat, maintaining that cocky smile.  

“Shizuo, I’ll be alright,” I said. “Just please wait outside in the hall for a bit, okay? And please behave.”

Kuzuhara smirked, “You better listen to your lady friend there, you know she’s right.”

I felt his energy rise in rage as jumped up to attack Kuzuhara, “Errgh, shut the hell up, no one asked you to speak!!”

I quickly took a deep breath in and focused static energy in my body, guiding it up to my head. On the exhale, I focused on the back of Shizuo’s neck, telepathically sending the small shock into his spine. This caused him to stop in surprise and look me in the eye, the anger fading slowly.

I'm sorry, Shizuo, I thought, looking into his eyes as if I were speaking to him. I just need you to calm down for a minute so I can fix this.

“I’ll talk to you later,” I mouthed to him as he looked at me.

He groaned, slightly embarrassed that he let his rage get the better of him and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“I need a fucking cigarette,” he grumbled aloud as he walked out the door and slammed it behind him.  

Kuzuhara smirked again, still unimpressed by Shizuo’s threat. “How the hell do you put up with that cocksucker?”

“He’s my boyfriend.” I said, shrugging.

“Well good luck with that one,” he said, pulling out a notepad and a pen. “Anyway, I’m not here to talk to you about that. We got a report a couple of weeks ago that you were stabbed in your own apartment. It was also reported that you just woke up so I decided to come in and have a chat with you. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? What happened that night?”

“I… I don’t remember too much,” I said. “I came home from work one day and this crazy guy had broke into my place before I got there. He was babbling some shit then he stabbed me.”

“What did he look like?” He probed.

“Um… brown eyes, short black hair…”

“You’ve gotta be more specific than that.”

“Umm.. He was about my height? I don’t know, he looked pretty normal to me, then he became belligerent then he stabbed me. It was crazy.”

“I know, I know,” he said, not looking up from his notepad as he wrote down everything I said. “You really don’t expect those kinds of people to be the crazy type but some are.” He then looked at me, saying, “Now that I think about it, you’re the American girl from the video that we were supposed to check out.”

My heart leaped. I had started to think that he entirely forgotten about it.

Fuck.

He studied me for a second as he continued. “The video came in from an anonymous source showing you saving a guy with... magic. I wouldn't say that I didn't believe even after seeing it myself since I have to deal with supernatural entities like the Black Rider, but to be honest, you don’t strike me as the supernatural type. I can’t even sense that about you.”

Because of my energy masking spell , I thought as he said that.  

“But yeah, I wouldn’t worry about it now, I will close the case on that and I’m not going to look into it further. As far as finding the man that stabbed you, we pull up a few profiles later and see if they match the description you’ve given me today.”

“Okay Officer, sounds great,” I said, ready for him to leave.

“Alrighty, well I’m gonna run this back to the station, take care for now, okay?” He said as he tipped his hat to me.

“Yes sir, thanks a lot,” I said as he walked out the door, closing it behind him. I stayed in the room by myself for a moment, checking my phone.

 [Dude, you're so popular online right now! ], Erika had text me.

I sighed. I haven't been online in Japan yet, but i can't imagine the things people are saying about me right now. I figured it was along the lines of me dating Shizuo, me being the girl in the weird video on the news, and me being stabbed in my own home. I really didn't know what to say back to Erika, and I'm not really excited about all of that attention online. I finally texted her back, saying:

 [Lol I'll try not to let it go to my head. ]

A few moments after Kuzuhara left, Shizuo let himself back in and sat down in the chair beside me. He seemed calm, but I could perceive in his energy that he felt awful for having an outburst.

“Don’t worry about earlier,” I said, answering his unstated thought. “I sent you that shock because I didn’t want it to get any worse than it already was. I had a lot at stake when he showed up.”

“Well I still wanna say I’m sorry for that,” he muttered, bowing his head.

“And I said don’t worry about it,” I replied, trying to assure Shizuo that everything was fine.

“Fine, I’ll take your word for it,” He said, lifting his head up to look at me. “So what did he talk to you about? If you don't mind me asking.”

“Oh, just about the stabbing. He asked who I thought did it, I didn't tell him exactly who it was.”

“Umm why not?” he asked, showing slight anger. “That fleabag needs to know what it feels like to rot in prison.”  

“Well, I felt like it would've been better to keep the cops guessing than to just rat him out. Knowing him, if he found out I did that then he would try to come after me again.”

“But aren't you a witch? Couldn't you just, I don’t know, cast a spell on him or something?”

“I mean, I could do that, but I wanna try something a little less direct,” I said. “How about I just place protection barriers around all of our apartments? That way if he tries to bother either of us the moment he steps near any of them, it’ll give off some vibes to him that’ll keep him out and I will know he's been there immediately.”

“Huh,” he said, taking it in. “I guess it could work.”

“It has to, because I want to finally live a somewhat normal life without Izaya poking around.”

He chuckled lightly. “You and me both.”

Our conversation was cut short by Shizuo’s phone ringing in his pocket. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered it, “Yeah?”

“ Shizuo, are you free? I need you to come in really quick, we’ve gotta put in some overtime today. There’s a guy out there that owes us and we need to find him.” I heard Tom Tanaka’s voice from his phone. Shizuo looked up at me as if to give me a look of concern.

“I’ll be fine, you can go ahead if you want.” I said, waving my hand at him.

He nodded, saying to Tom, “Alright, I’ll be there shortly.” He hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket. He looked at me and said, “I’ll come back after I’m done. Are you sure you’re gonna be alright?”

“Of course I will be! I can take care of myself!”

“You sure about that?” He raised his brow. “You let the fleabag stab you.”

“Don’t worry, that’s not going to happen again, my guard will be up from now on. And when I go home tomorrow I’m gonna prepare to set up the protection spell around my apartment.”

“Alright, don't let any fleabags come by and attack you again. And watch the homestead for me while I'm gone.” He leaned in for a kiss but was met with a playful slap on his chest.

“You are ridiculous!” I laughed.

He showed off another adorable smile and a small laugh before he attempting to kiss me again. I allowed him to do so, wrapping my arms around his waist for a hug. I held into him for a minute before releasing him so that he could help out Tom.

I stood directly across from Izaya in my apartment with a fireball in my left hand, prepared to take him on. He stood across from me in my kitchen, posed in a fighting stance with his flick blade out and pointing at me. While he was right that I didn’t want to damage my apartment in any way, I needed to make it clear that he was not welcome to invade my home and that messing with me was a bad idea.

“Are you just going to stand there and gawk at me?” Izaya taunted me in English. “Or are we going to get this over with?”

“What are you even talking about?” I replied in English. “Why are you doing this to us?! All I wanted was a nice and peaceful life here but you continue to butt in!”

“I’ve already explained myself to you,” He responded. “Plus what made you think you were going to have a ‘nice and peaceful life’ here of all places? This city is brimming with dangerous savages and criminals. Nothing about this city is ‘nice and peaceful’. You signed up for this life once you moved here and started dating Shizu-chan, the most savage of them all. If you’ve found your person yet, then you should probably leave this city while you can.”

“I did find my person,” I replied, thinking of Celty. “And a few other great people along the way. They’ve become really great friends of mine and I am thankful to have them through all of this! Nothing you say is going to change my mind!”  

Celty’s outside! I thought. I need to get her attention, she could help me stop him!

“Yeah yeah,” Izaya waved his flick blade around as if to emphasize that he did not care either way. “They’ll turn on you once they find out who you are if they haven’t already.”

“No, you’re wrong,” I said. “Some have already seen it and continued to stay by my side.”

“I’m afraid that's where you're wrong. I’ve spent nearly my entire life watching and observing humans. They will turn their back on you the moment it is necessary for them to. Or worse, use you only for your power.” Izaya taunted. “You know why, (your name)? Because they’re human! All your friends are humans. It’s natural for humans to deny ideas and situations that they can’t understand even if it’s staring them dead in the face! Or they'll use you for their own means; they won't give a damn how you feel in the process because all you did was become beneficial to them. And that’s one reason why I love all humans, (your name)! I love every single one of them! Even the dangerous ones that make up this lovely hellhole!”

“You’re a fucking psychopath, Izaya. I’m done listening to you. Last warning, get the FUCK out of here RIGHT NOW before I burn your ass!”

He smirked at me as if my warning did not faze him, holding up his knife again. “You’ll realize it soon enough, (your name). I know every one of those humans you hang around. I know Celty. And I sure know that beast you're in love with.”

“I’m done listening to you!” I yelled angrily, charging at him with my fireball in hand to swipe it at him. He dodged me again by jumping to my left.

“Oop, too slow!” He laughed as he dodged my attack.

About as quickly as he jumped away from me I felt a jab of searing pain in my left side that pulsated throughout my body. I felt every move he made in almost slow motion as he shoved his flick blade into my side and quickly yanked it out. It took me a minute to realize exactly what just happened.

He stabbed me!  

“Ahhhh!!” I screamed out. My fireball went out as I bent over and held my side in pain. Struggling to catch my breath, I gasped as I looked up to see him point his blade in my face with an inch of my blood dripping from the tip. The sight of it shocked me, causing me to go hazy. My strength drained from my body; I began to feel weaker and weaker as I realized that he stabbed a vital pressure point. As I lost more blood I fell down on the ground, unable to move my body and gasping for air.

Dammit, I fucked up. After he mentioned Shizuo, I didn't stop to think about what I was doing before I acted. And now it has cost my life.

Izaya laughed at me again. “You didn’t see that coming, did you?! You’ve been hanging around Shizu-chan for too long! Unfortunate for you, you don’t have Shizu-chan’s retard strength! Well it was nice knowing you, (your name) and thanks for the blood. I’ve heard that a witch’s blood has powerful magic of its own, which I will put to the test. Buh-bye now!” I watched with blurry vision as he walked over to my living room window to jump out of it until a shadowy figure jumped over my body. It appeared to pull a bright silver katana straight out of it’s arm and lunged at Izaya. He quickly spun around to intercept its attack with his blood-coated flick blade. The clash of the two weapons caused him to lose his grip on his flick blade and sent it flying towards me. I watched in a dark daze as the flick blade slid and stopped in front of me as the two figures continued to fight. The last defining feature I caught of the shadowy figure before blacking out was it’s glowing red eyes.

**************************************************

Everything was a blur as I went in and out of consciousness. I caught glimpse of me laying down with my head in someone’s lap and being pulled by a black, shadowy horse drawn carriage. In another I heard Shizuo yelling incoherently at the top of his lungs. The rest was endless floating in the complete darkness of my subconscious with an unbearable, shooting pain in my side.

Multiple times I felt myself being drawn closer and closer to a comforting, faint light in the dark. Each time that I started to float towards it, the excruciating pain in my side lessened. But the closer I got to it, the clearer it became to me that once I reached it, my life on Earth was over. I thought of everyone that’s ever been in my life: Mom, Dad, some of my old friends in the US, the friends I’ve made here, and Shizuo. I would never see them again. I would never get to see my parents again. I would never get to laugh and talk about anime and manga with Erika, Walker, and the rest of the van gang. I would never get to become better acquainted Celty and Shinra. And most of all, my relationship with Shizuo would not continue. I would never get to feel his touch, experience his light hearted playfulness, or his sweet, warm kiss again.

And worst, I will never get to tell him I loved him.

Maybe Izaya was right. Coming here may have not been best decision in my life. I should’ve stayed hidden in Salem til I grew old, tired, and passed away of old age. But then again, maybe it would be better to just let myself go because now I get to experience the Paradise that awaits me at that the end of the light.

I thought of Izaya and all that he’s put me through. As much as he wants to taunt me and make me feel like garbage for coming here and falling in love with Shizuo, if I let myself die then that would mean Izaya won. He would continue to go after Shizuo without me around to be there by his side. He would have proven that I should’ve never came and that living a nice and peaceful life in this city would be impossible. I can’t allow that. I can’t allow that fucker to win! And I sure as hell can't leave everyone I know and love behind. Most of all, I can't leave Shizuo behind.

I planted myself in my hazy black dream, causing me to feel the pain with full force, as if I were stabbed a second time. I felt myself fall through blackness, down to the Earth, and crash land on my back, causing me to wake up, coughing and gasping for air. I woke up in a bright, white room which appeared to be a hospital, lying on a bed. I was wearing a hospital gown and had a hospital blanket draped over my chest. When I tried to sit up, pain seared from my side through my ribs. I winced and groaned before accepting the position I was in and lying back down.

“Ughhh, this sucks,” I groaned in English.

I felt a faint energy at my feet that jumped up. I was then greeted by Shizuo, who leaned his face into mine for a passionate kiss and an extremely light hug. Once he pulled away I seen expressions on his face that I had never seen before: worry and fear. He had been crying. He wiped the tears from his face, causing me to tear up a bit myself.

“You’re finally awake.” he said softly in Japanese. It took me a minute to process what he was saying to me as if I suddenly forgotten how to speak the language. I then understood what he said, replying in Japanese, “How long was I out?”

“It’s been about a week.”

“About a week?!” My eyes widened. “It felt like I was only out for a few hours.”

“Nope, it's been much longer than that. We thought you were...dead.” he shuddered. “Celty and that Saika girl rushed you to the hospital as soon as they could. The nurses eventually told us all that you could've died at any moment and that you were barely hanging on.”

“That's… that's crazy. I really had no idea it’d been that long. I'm sorry I was out for so long.” I said, feeling tears forming in my eyes.

“You better stop that shit,” Shizuo lightly joked, the skin around his eyes and cheekbones becoming red and puffy as if he were about to tear up himself. “And don't apologize to me about it. Neither of us saw it coming. You’re really lucky that the Saika girl happened to stop by when she did.”

“Who’s the ‘Saika girl’?” I asked.

“Um, shit, I can't ever remember her name. She lives next door to you, has glasses, big boobs…”

“Anri?!” I gasped. Was she that black shadowy figure with red eyes that I saw fighting Izaya before I passed out?

“Yeah, her!” Shizuo snapped his fingers as if I jogged his memory. “She told me everything that happened. She said that she noticed something really weird was going on in your place so she went to check on you. That’s when she saw that cockroach there and he’d stabbed you.” Anger spiked in his voice once he mentioned what Izaya did, but tried to contain himself. I could feel in his energy that he did not want to lose his temper in front of me in my condition. “She followed him after he jumped out your window but her path was blocked by those Blood shits. After slashing a couple of them and freaking them out, she said she ran back to your apartment to see Celty had went in and discovered what happened. They also found that he dropped his blade beside you before he took off.”

“Yeah, I remember that part, Anri knocked it out of his hand before I passed out.” I recalled, realizing that the black shadowy figure was definitely Anri.

“After that, they brought you here. I didn't find out until later on that night when Celty called Shinra.” Shizuo pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes before continuing his story. “I tried to go after the shithead to make him pay for what he did to you but I couldn't find him.”

“You’re getting creative with your nicknames,” I joked with him. He looked at me with seriousness in his face that made me lose my smile, seeing that he was no longer in a joking mood. I decided that I should be more considerate towards him since he had to wait almost a week for me to wake up.

“I'm just… I'm sick of this.” Shizuo said. “I'm sick of him butting into my life like this all the time and now he's brought you in the middle of it. I don't know what to do anymore. Maybe we should break up so that he'll leave you alone.”

“No!” I jumped up so quickly that the pain in my side sharpened. I winced a bit at the pain before lying back down and continuing, “I had some time to think about our relationship while I was pondering on my deathbed. Despite what he's put us through lately I don't want to break up. That would just mean that he won and he'll keep doing this to you until one of you kills the other. Plus did you honestly think I’d just agree to something like that?”

“Yeah… you're right.” he replied, taking in every word I said.

“I know I fucked up. I reacted to fast which allowed him the advantage. Normally I think my fights through before I act but I guess I was just so angry at him that I might've underestimated him at the time. But I promise that won't happen again.”

“I really hope so,” Shizuo said. “Because this will not be our last fight with him. The fleabag is up to something, and we need to stay prepared for whatever it is.”

“Of course,” I said. “I'm prepared to take on anything knowing that you'll be right there with me.”

He leaned his face back into mine, smiling gratefully.

“You know something, (your name)?” Shizuo said.

“What?”

“You look so beautiful right now, even like this.”

“Oh stop it, there's no way you could think that at a time like this.”

“I do think that. I think that about you all the time, no matter where we are or what we're doing.” he paused for a minute to watch my face, then said, “I’m so glad I didn't lose you. I missed you so much while you were out of it. It would've really sucked if you died on me before I even got a chance to say that I loved you.”

I looked into his eyes, taken aback that he finally said it to me. “I missed you too, Shizuo. So were you telling me that you loved me just now?”

Shizuo leaned his face into mine for another kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down to me so that I would not have to raise up to him. He pulled back slightly to confidently say, “Yeah, and I'll say it again: I love you, (your name).”

I giggled in excitement and pulled him into me for another hug.

Seeing something as incredible as Celty and her neighing motorcycle, plus knowing that I was about to ride with her to my apartment was absolutely dreamlike.

I followed her out of the apartment and watched as she looked up towards her unit. I looked up with her as her black motorcycle raced down the side of the apartment from the top with lightning speed and stopped in front of her to give her a short, otherworldly snort.

[This is my horse, Shooter] she typed to me.

[He's disguised as a motorcycle so that we can be able to get around in a modern way]

“That is so cool, Celty!” I said excitedly. “Thank you so much again for taking me to my apartment.”

She seemed to look at me for a second, then typed into her phone:

[Not a problem at all, (your name)]

[I like you, and I wouldn’t mind to help out when you need it since you’re Shizuo’s girlfriend]

I smiled. “Thanks a lot.”

I truly am thank that most of the people I’ve met here so far have been so nice to me and willing to help out. It does give me some hope that this thing with Izaya won't turn out so bad, especially now that I know that I don’t have to deal with it on my own.

[So where are we going?] she asked. I gave her the address to my apartment.

[I know where that is] she typed.

[Let’s get going]

Celty held out her hand, formed a helmet that looked just like hers but in all black and handed it to me. I put the helmet on my head, and climbed onto the back of her horse with her. Once I was on she wrapped shadows around my waist to keep me secure, then took off down the street with speed and somewhat, grace. I couldn't help but feel that besides my time with Shizuo this would have to top my list of exciting things I've done since I’ve moved here.

About halfway back to my apartment I felt a sudden dark energy gaining on us. I focused on this energy for a minute until I caught sight of a group of Blood Diamonds in a red van, armed to the teeth and bobbing through traffic in attempt to catch up to us.

I groaned then warned Celty, “We have Blood Diamonds gaining on us!”

She summoned her phone, typed into it with one hand, then showed it to me: [Are you serious?!]

Suddenly I felt the energy of one of them preparing to fire a gun at us.

Fuck!

I breathed in, imagining a energetic shield covering us from behind, then breathed out, allowing the energetic shield to take form behind us, shielding us from the gunshots.  

“I’ll try to get them off our ass!” I yelled to Celty as she swerved through traffic. I knew that my shield wouldn’t be able to cover us for long, so I needed to come up with something to get them off of us quickly. I turned sideways and held out my left hand towards the van. I form a finger gun with my hand and took a deep breath in, imagining electricity zipping up through my body and focusing it into my formed hand, directly into my pointer finger and middle finger. I aimed my hand at one of the front tires of the van. Finally, on the exhale, I fired and released the zapping, electric energy from the tips of my fingers. I watched as the shot broke through my shield, causing it to disintegrate, and crashed into the front tire of the van. The tire I shot at popped, making the van spin out and crash into the side of a brick wall across the street as Celty and I sped further and further away.

Holy shit, I just did that! I thought in excitement and somewhat alarmed by my own actions.

Celty stopped in the middle of the street, nudged me to look at her and held her phone up to me: [Why the hell did you do that?!]

[Now the cops will be all over us!]

“Shit Celty, what was I supposed to do?! The Blood Diamonds were chasing after us with guns! At least I didn’t kill any of them!”

[We could’ve gotten away from them on our own if you could’ve kept your shield up a little longer!]

“It wouldn't have been able to hold for that long!”

We suddenly heard the sound of police sirens coming into our direction. I felt Celty freeze up somewhat in fear, then quickly put her hands on the handlebars and sped off down the street, Shooter neighing and revving like an engine. For the first time I was actually able to sense something from her. Not energy, but emotion. She was absolutely terrified of the cops. As they gained on us I could understand why; they emitted an energy much darker and terrifying than a group of Blood Diamonds could. It almost felt… evil.

She typed with one hand into phone then showed it to me: [I’ll have Shooter take some of the back roads so that we can evade the cops.]

[Hang on tight and let me handle this.]

“Fine,” I held up my hands as if to surrender to her. “Do your thing.”

We sped through the streets, weaved through traffic, and passed through alleyways all across Ikebukuro to avoid the cops. But somehow they continued to stay on our tail, popping out in front of us on the street as we passed through alleys and following us on police motorbikes.

“This is Officer Furutani, I have the Black Rider and it’s passenger in sight! I need the fastest units to respond asap, over!” I heard one yell into their walkie-talkie as we passed them.

“Come in, come in! This is Officer Kano, the headless rider and it’s passenger are heading westbound on Yurakucho Line, I need the fastest units to respond asap, over!”

Eventually we got on a freeway bridge called the Yurakucho Line to the Shinjuku district in attempt to put distance between us and them. As we entered the bridge, one cop that we kept bumping into gained on us on a motorbike. He had very oddly distinctive facial features and an energy that stuck out amongst the other cops that chased us; he wore a cop uniform but included a red ascot. He had an upside-down, cross-shaped scar on his cheek, and a huge malicious smile plastered on his face. His energy was also absolutely the most terrifying; his energy felt about the same as Shizuo’s energy felt when he’s angry, but this energy seemed to be focused on entirely one thing. It felt as if he was the direct one that fueled all of the other cops’ raging dedication to their police force.

He sped up to our side in an attempt to spin us out, but missed. He swerved a little before regaining control of his bike and catching back up on our side.

“Your days of running around this city without any consequences are over, monster!” the cop yelled at Celty. In an almost wicked tone, he added, “Who’s the hostage you have there, is it some innocent girl that you’re bringing to that gang you’re involved in?!”

“No I’m not!” I yelled at him in Celty’s defense. “Leave us alone, we haven’t done anything!”

The cop laughed. “If you haven’t done anything then why are you running?! What kind of involvement do you HAVE with that thing?!”

I felt Celty nudge my arm to get my attention. I then looked up and ahead of her to find that at the end of bridge into Shinjuku our path was blocked off by cop cars and road block hurdles. A few cops stood in front of the roadblock as if they were expecting us.

“I’ve got you now, monster.” sneered the cop behind us as we neared it. He then pulled up his walkie- talkie and spoke into it. “All units, this is Officer Kuzuhara. We have the black rider and it’s passenger cordoned off of Shinjuku freeway. I repeat, we have the black rider and it’s passenger cordoned off of Shinjuku freeway, over.”

“This is Chief Akiyama. Understood, good work, Kuzuhara, over.” a voice buzzed in over the walkie talkie. The cop let out a soft smirk at his accomplishment. I felt myself becoming petrified. Celty slowed down as we got closer and closer to the roadblock.

This can’t be happening , I thought. I’ve never been to jail before, not even in the states. And Celty’s allowing us to get busted. Fuck, what am I going to tell Shizuo? What would he do one he finds out we were busted by cops on the way to get some shit from my apartment?! And on top of this they’re gonna catch me because they’re also looking for me. This is fucked, absolutely fucked.

I felt Celty unwrap her shadows from my waist. Then unexpectedly, Celty revved Shooter up and sped up to the roadblock. I gripped onto her waist to keep myself from flying off the horse bike. The speed also caused her helmet to pop off, revealing her severed neck and the black smoky shadows coming from it.

“What are you doing?!” I yelled at her. She said nothing as she sped up to the roadblock and had Shooter jump completely over them. Their cars and the other cops attempted to shoot tasers at us as we jumped over them, missing every shot they took at us.

Holy shit, we’re gonna get away from them! I thought to myself as I realized what she was doing.

As we passed over the road block and landed on the ground to speed away, I took a deep breath in and prepared to make a road block of my own to keep the cops from following us. I visualized frigid ice coursing through my veins. Celty wrapped her shadows back around my waist as if she understood what I was about to do. I took a minute to allow the freezing energy to move up and collect into my hands. I turned around and held the palms of my hands up to the cop cars behind us. On the exhale, I forced the cold energy from my palms and my fingers and raised an icy wall along the back of the cop cars, the ice gripping onto the railings on both sides of the one way freeway and completely blocking them from following us.

“They shouldn't be able to follow us now!” I yelled to Celty.

She typed into her phone: [Okay, good. We're gonna take a few alleyways underneath the freeway back to Ikebukuro so the cops can't find us.] As her horse revved up and turned around to take the alleyways underneath the freeway, she typed to me again:

[Man, those cops really freak me out. I hope we don't run into them again.]

“I hope we don't either,” I agreed. “I'd really hate to be arrested here.” I also shuddered at the thought of them wanting to find me for questioning because of the video of me on the news.

“That was crazy!” I said aloud as I processed what just happened. Celty said nothing to me in response as we made our way back to Ikebukuro.

Once we got back to Ikebukuro we began taking the main roads again, thinking that the cops were no longer going to be on our tail unless we did something drastic to attract them. Finally, once we reached my apartment, Celty stopped along the side of the street and unwrapped her shadows off of my waist to let me off of Shooter. She formed a new helmet in her hand and covered up her neck with it in place of her old helmet that was knocked off during our encounter with the cops. Her actions reminded me to remove my own helmet, which vanished from my hands after removing it.

[I'll wait out here.] Celty typed to me.

“Okay, I won't be too long.” I hopped off of Shooter and ran up the stairs to unlock my apartment door. Along the way I looked at the apartment door next to mine.

I wonder what Anri’s been up to? I thought as i looked at her apartment door. I never see her outside of her apartment when I'm here. After this blows over I'm gonna do something nice for her since she brought me cookies on my first day here.

Once I unlocked my door and stepped inside, I immediately sensed a familiar cunning and manipulative energy… INSIDE my apartment. The energy came from directly behind me, and felt as if it planned to attack me as soon as I stepped inside.

Goddammit, what is he doing here?! I sighed. This is actually getting very annoying . I took a deep breath in, and passed flaming energy throughout my body. Once I gathered enough energy into my left hand to form a ball of fire, I spun around and tried to shove it on him in attempt to scorch him with it. He quickly jumped out of the way and into my kitchen. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small flick blade, pointing it at me.

“Ya know, you should learn how to supress your energy, especially if you're going to attack in me in my own home.” I said aloud to him in English. “Now get the hell out of my apartment before I burn your ass.”

“And then risk burning down your own home and having the cops find you? You really don't want to do that.” Izaya replied in English with a smile on his face.

“I don't give a shit, I'll do what I have to to protect myself.”

[CW: I’m still fairly new to Tumblr and just discovered that you can change the text to italics and bold, lol. Sucks that I have to put it all back in as I’m making the post, but it’ll definitely be helpful while you’re reading Shizuo’s scene. Enjoy!]

I woke up around 5am, almost frightened by my new surroundings, until a quick flash of memory reminded me of everything that had happened yesterday. I immediately felt Shizuo’s warm energy beside me, indicating that he did in fact return after not being able to find Izaya. I turn my body over to him to find him asleep under the blanket next to me. He still wore his bartender uniform with his sunglasses folded up beside him on the other side.

I didn’t want to wake him up, so i decided to cast a Past spell on him to see what he had been through the whole night. I took a deep breath in, and concentrated for a minute on Shizuo’s past few hours, reliving the moment that he walked out the door to chase after Izaya, imagining what it felt like to be him at that exact moment; the anger and resentment he feels towards Izaya. I took into consideration that while I’m peeking into his memory, I will be temporarily in his shoes, experiencing everything through his eyes just as he did. I will feel and see everything exactly as he felt and saw it.

I breathed out, allowing my mind to see into Shizuo’s past from his perspective...

*******************************************************************************************

 He stomped through the streets of Ikebukuro, seeing red everywhere he looked and shaking in anger.

This is the LAST goddamn time that fleabag is going to mess with anyone I care about! The moment I see him I’ll rip his fucking head off. Everything was going just fine without him ‘til he decided to show his pathetic face here again and toy around with HER. I cannot wait to finally have that satisfying moment when I’ve beaten him at his own game.

He decided to check Izaya’s main office first, praying that he was there. Upon approaching the office building, he shoved the door open and let it slam shut behind him as he entered. He charged up the staircase to the 5th floor where Izaya’s office was located. He punched through the door of his office, and reached around to turn the knob and let himself in. He stepped into the office and looked around, realizing that he was not there. Despite having not been in Ikebukuro in months, his office was still fully furnished with all of his equipment as if he had never left.

Not here, huh?! Don’t think I won’t find you, goddamn cockroach. I know where you hide.

Furious that Izaya wasn’t there, he darted down the stairs and out of the building to his next hideout, a little house on the outskirts of town. About two or three minutes before he reached it, he was grazed in the cheek by a gunshot behind him. He turned around to find that a group of Blood Diamonds were chasing after him in a red van, attempting a drive by on him.

“Goddammitt I don’t have TIME for this shit! IIIZAAYAAA YOU COWARD !!!”

He ran over to a nearby coupe car parked along the street to his left and crouched behind it for quick cover from the gunshots. He then picked the car up from its side, gripped the other side of the car from underneath with his other hand, and flung it at the van. He watched as some of the members tried to scramble out of the van to avoid the oncoming car, instead they were struck by it and flung back like ragdolls from the impact. He darted away to the next hideout before they had a moment to recover.

Once he finally reached the hideout, more Blood Diamonds came charging towards him from the house, armed with a variety of melee weapons.

“There he is, let’s get him!”

That bastard is still trying to buy himself some time. I'm not gonna let him escape!

“ COME OUT AND FACE ME, IZAYAAA !!!”

They all came at him one by one. He took on the first melee attacker with a wooden baseball bat in his hands by yanking the attacker’s bat out of his hand and whacking him in the side of the face with it, causing the bat to snap in half. He threw the other half of the bat on the ground as the attacker fell and took on the next attacker with a crowbar in his hand by dodging away from the attacker’s swing and elbowing him hard enough in the face to knock him back into the attacker behind him. As they both toppled over each other to the ground the next attacker jumped over them and came at him with a long, sharp kitchen knife. He grabbed the attacker by the wrist that held the knife and twisted his arm backwards, causing his arm to snap at the elbow. The man screamed out in pain as he spun around to forcefully kick the guy down to the ground.

After seeing what he did to the last attacker, the few that were left from inside the house ran away in fear, screaming, “Ahh, this is crazy!” “Fuck this, that asshole’s insane!” “I didn't ask for this!” “This is all HER fault!” “Let’s get outta here!”

Hmph, they're all cowards. Makes my life a hell of a lot easier.

He pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose and stomped into the tiny house, not even breaking a sweat from the fight. He stumbled over trash and small furniture on his way in, noticing that the little house had been completely trashed from top to bottom.

He's let this place turn into a dump since I was last here.

He looked through every room in the house, slinging furniture and garbage out of his way to realize that Izaya wasn't there either.

 DAMMIT! There's one more place left that I know of. I hope I run into his ass on the street.

As he walked to the last hideout, his anger began fading. He stood still for a second as his head cleared, realizing that Izaya probably wouldn't be there either.

Shit, he's probably long gone by now, but if he's looking for a fight that bad then he'll be back. I really need a cigarette.

He grabbed his pack out of his pocket, took one from the pack, grabbed a lighter out of his pocket to light the cigarette, then shoved both back into his pocket. His first puff sent small shivers of calmness through his body, allowing him to slighlty relax from the anger he just felt. That's when he realized he had forgotten his shoes before taking off to go after him. He smirked at the thought and began walking back to Shinra and Celty’s apartment, thinking about (your name).

I hope I didn't piss her off by just leaving like that. She really did think that Izaya was going to kill me. But what she doesn't know is that there's nothing Izaya can do to me that'll actually kill me. I've evaded every one of his plans to destroy me. There's no way he could do it now.

Once he reached their apartment he flicked the butt of his cigarette into the wall before stepping inside. He took the elevator up to 38th floor and knocked on their door.

No answer. He knocked on the door a little harder to get someone's attention.

“Comingg,” he heard Shinra’s sleepy voice on the other side as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Shinra opened the door and stood in front of him in white pajamas.

“Oh, you're back,” Shinra yawned. “Did you find him?”

“Unfortunately, no, but I'm sure he'll be back around soon.”

“He definitely will,” Shinra agreed. “In the meantime, you should get some sleep yourself. (Your name) is already in the guest room asleep if you wanna join her.”

“Okay, thanks a lot.” he stepped past Shinra to walk into the guest room.

He stopped for a second to admire (your name), sound asleep on the pallet. He sat down on the pallet next to her, taking off his sunglasses and folding them up to lay them down beside him on the ground. He laid down and spooned himself into her body, nestling his chin on her neck.

Despite everything that's happened so far, I'm thankful that I finally have someone at my side, fighting through this with me. She's already been through so much since she’s been here and somehow managed to see much more in me than a beast. I just hope I don't lose her…

*************************************************************************************************************

I came to as he fell asleep in his memory, gasping for air and a bit overwhelmed by everything I just saw. The immense and terrifying anger I felt as I was in his memory vanished. I felt my cheek in the spot that he was grazed in my memory to make sure it wasn’t my own; that’s when I actually noticed the scratch on his cheek for the first time.

I sighed and caught my breath as I tried to analyze everything I saw. He didn't find Izaya, but something else caught me off guard: “This is all HER fault”? What could that mean?

I heard a buzz coming from my phone beside me on the ground, I opened it to find that Erika had texted me yesterday:

[Whoa, you were on the news just now! What was all of that about? ]

I texted her back: [I have no idea why that happened, they’ve used some weird graphics on me. I’ll try to figure out what’s going on. ]

Erika texted me a minute later: [Okay, if you need the gang and I just shoot me a text! <3 ]

[ Okay, thanks Erika! <3 ]

I felt Shinra’s energy coming from the living room and kitchen, telling me that Celty and Shinra were awake. I slowly got up to avoid waking Shizuo, put my clothes on, and stepped out of the guest room and into the living room.

I spot Celty in the kitchen cooking what appeared to be sunny side up eggs. Shinra sat on the couch.

“‘Morning!” Shinra greeted me as he saw me.

[Good Morning, (your name)!] Celty typed into her phone and pointed it at me.

“‘Morning, guys,” I said, smiling.

“Did you sleep okay?” Shinra asked me.

“Yeah, your guest room is actually pretty cozy!” I said.

Should I ask them their thoughts about what I saw in Shizuo’s memory? I thought.

“That’s great!” Shinra smiled. “Celty’s making breakfast this morning; you should join us! Celty is an amazing cook!”

“Sure, I’d be happy to!” While it did seem a bit strange to have a dullahan, a being that doesn’t require nourishment to survive, cook breakfast for me, I decided not to knock it til I tried it.  I sat down on the couch on the left in further away from Shinra.

“Is the bear awake?” Shinra leaned over and whispered to me, indicating that he was talking about Shizuo.

I smirked. “He's still asleep, I didn’t want to wake him up.”

“Okay, well, he didn’t find Izaya last night.”

“I know,” I said.

“Oh really?” Shinra asked, puzzled. “How so?”

“I guess you can say I can see into minds,” I smiled.

“That’s… that’s pretty cool! You’ll really have to let me dissect you so that I can--” Black smoky shadows whipped out from the kitchen and snapped on his cheek.

“Ow, Celty!” he exclaimed, rubbing his cheek where a red spot formed from the slap. She then moved her shadows from him and onto the coffee table to form words: Stay on topic.

“But Celty!” Shinra whined, “I’ll pay her for her participation!”

The words changed: Please Shinra, we promised we would help. I don’t wanna ruin breakfast this morning so don’t make me come in there myself.

“Okay, finee,” Shinra then looked at me as her shadows went back to the kitchen. “So, how much did you see?”

“He fought a lot of Blood Diamond members last night on the way to all of Izaya’s hideouts in an attempt to stop him.” I said. “He was able to fight them off but the remaining few ran off screaming, ‘'This is all HER fault!’. After seeing that I thought I should probably mention it to you guys. I feel like it could mean that someone else is involved with Izaya and the Blood Diamonds.”

“Hmm, sounds like he might be working with someone. I wouldn’t put it past him to get people on his side for a matter like this. But was that all you could gather?”

“Unfortunately,” I said.

“That’s alright, we’ll continue to put the pieces together as we go,” he said assuredly.

Celty’s shadows came back from the kitchen and formed words on the coffee table: Breakfast is ready! ^_^ Go get Shizuo!

“Alrighty,” I said. I jumped up from the couch and went into the guest room to wake him up.

I stopped to admire him for a second as he was laying on his left side curled up under the covers, holding the blanket tightly to his chin in his sleep. I then laid down next to him and gave him soft kisses on his temple to wake him up.

“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” I playfully whispered into his ear.

He slowly opened his eyes, smiled and grabbed me into an embrace, kissing me on the lips.

“Good morning,” he said in a soft sleepy voice. “Did you sleep okay?”

“I did, it was pretty cozy in here,” I replied. “Did you sleep okay?”

“About as okay as I could,” he frowned and loosened his grip on me, thinking about last night’s chase. “That cockroach got away,”

“It’s okay,” I said, hugging him tighter. “At least he didn’t kill you like he had threatened to yesterday.”

Shizuo smiled. “He’ll never kill me, (your name). I’ll beat him every single time no matter what he plots.”

“Hurry up, lovebirds!” Shinra shouted from the dining area. “We’re waiting!”

“Oh! Sorry, I came to wake you up because Celty made breakfast for all of us,” I told Shizuo.

He smirked, his voice returning to normal. “But she doesn’t--”

I smacked him lightly in the chest, already knowing that he was going to say something about Celty not needing to eat.

“It can’t be that bad, come on!”

Shizuo sighed, smiled at my eagerness and sat up, “Alright, give me a minute. You go on, I’ll be in there.”  

“Okay,” I pecked him on the cheek then went back into the living room to their dining area.

She served what looked to be a steamy breakfast udon on the dining area table, and to be honest it looked great. There were four separate bowls already assembled for us that had udon noodles, two strips of bacon, kale, mushrooms, and an egg sunny side up. Shortly after I sat down at the coffee table Shizuo came out of the guest room and sat down next to me.

“This looks fantastic!” I exclaimed as I took a bowl, clearly amazed by the good looking product.

“See? I told you Celty is a great cook!” Shinra smiled and elbowed Celty as if to reassure her.

[You’re too kind.] she typed into her phone at Shinra. She then typed to me: [I hope you like it.]

“I'm sure I will, thanks a lot for making this!” We all dug into the amazing dish that Celty had made, enjoying the company of each other.

After finishing up, I told Shizuo that if I was going to be staying with Celty and Shinra until this had all blown over, then I should probably grab some clothes.

“Okay, if you’re going to head out then you should probably call Kadota and the others to give you a lift, just to avoid trouble.” he suggested.

[I’ll take her.] Celty held out her phone so both of us could see it. [It’ll be much quicker than the van.]

“Are you sure? You usually attract a lot of attention when you’re out,” Shizuo commented.

[But nobody will know who she is if she’s on the back of my horse so it’ll be quick and easy.] she quickly typed.

I was actually not opposed to the idea. I figured that in this city that she disguises her horse somehow so that it can be used as means of modern transportation. But the thing most exciting is that I’ll get to ride it with her!

“Thanks a lot, Celty, I really appreciate it!”

[No problem]

[Let’s get out of here before it gets too late.]

If you’re liking “The Witch and The Beast Himself” so far, which other Durarara characters would you like to see me do an “x Reader” on? Or give me some more ideas :) I am considering an Izaya x Reader fanfic called “His Little Plaything”, an alternate story from my current one where Shizuo is the antagonist; and a side story for the The Witch and The Beast Himself that will not include the reader, but instead a ship that I’m working to create in my story. I’m also considering a Rocchi x Reader and a Orihara twins x Reader.

While I was very excited to finally meet Celty, the Headless Rider, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Izaya had been doing to us the past couple of days. What was the reason for this? Why did he feel the need to want to tear BOTH of us apart?

“Hey, are you okay?” Shizuo asked we reached the Shinra and Celty’s apartment building. His energy showed that he suspected that there was something genuinely wrong with me.

“Yeah, um, I’m just nervous…” I quickly made up. “...about meeting her. I don’t wanna seem like an idiot or anything.”

He laughed and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Don’t worry about it, (your name), Celty’s a great person. If anything, she might feel more weird about meeting you than you do about her. But you’ll be fine. And,” I perceived that he still wanted to pry into what was wrong with me; my energy changing spell must’ve been fading. “If you ever need to talk about anything, just tell me.”

I took a deep breath in, breathed out, changed my energy to neutral again, and flashed him a smile. “Of course, Shizuo, I appreciate it.”

He led me into the apartment building, then we took the elevator up to the 38th floor.

“How do you know her so well?” I asked along the way. While I could answer that question myself by using a quick Past spell to see into his past, I wanted to keep our conversation fresh by letting him answer those questions for me.

“She and Shinra have been friends of mine since middle school.” he said. “Both of them are great people. Just don’t tell Shinra what you are; he’ll try to convince you to let him dissect you.”

I laughed, “That’s so weird, why?”

“He’s an underground doctor and surgeon. He usually takes home calls to patch people up when they don’t want to go to the hospital.”

“Ohhh, I see.” I said.    

When we reached the apartment door, Shizuo rang the doorbell.

“Coming!” yelled a muffled man’s voice. I felt his very energetic and curious energy as he came up to the door. The man that answered had brown downward spiky hair, glasses, wore a long white lab coat, and appeared to be around the same age as Shizuo.

“Shizuo!” he then glanced at me. “And you must be his new girlfriend! Come in, I’ll put some tea on!”

He let us past and shut the door behind us. We took our shoes off at the door and walked further into the apartment.

Oh my god, there she is.

I spot Celty, sitting up straight with her hands folded in her lap, in an armchair close to their huge window that overlooked the brightly lit city. She was extremely slender, wearing a long black bodysuit and a yellow and blue helmet with cat ears. I noticed that she had absolutely no energy coming from her body. I followed Shizuo over to the couch that sat adjacent from her. He allowed me to sit on the far left end, closest to her while he sat next to me on the right.

“Hey Celty,” Shizuo said. “How was that job?”

I watched her as a cell phone flew up from her sleeve as if she summoned it, and fell into her hand. She began typing very quickly into it then showed it to us:

[It went okay, I'm just glad to be back home. Is this your new girlfriend?]

“Yeah,” Shizuo replied. “This is (your name).”

“Um, hi,” I said rather awkwardly.

She typed quickly on the keyboard again then showed it to me:

 [I'm Celty, nice to meet you! ^_^ Good to see that Shizuo finally has a girlfriend! You're not human either, are you?]

My eyes widened, “How did you know?”

She used her left hand to flip up the black visor on her helmet, allowing me to peer inside. I looked into it in pure astonishment and wonder, seeing that she in fact had no head but instead, black smoke rising from the top of her severed neck. I never thought that I would get to see this for myself. Somehow I felt more comfortable with her after she volunteered to let me see into her helmet.

She flipped the visor down, then typed on her phone:

[I’m a dullahan, minus my head at my side. I could tell the moment you walked in the door that you weren’t human either. It's alright though, your secret is safe with me.]

I smiled, “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

[No problem, us Supernatural beings have to stick together :) ]

“So how did you get to meet an American, Shizuo?” Shinra yelled from the kitchen.

[Shinra! Be nice!] Celty typed into her phone and faced it at him.

“No it’s okay,” I said. I decided to show off my quirkier side by saying,“ I met him on the street a little while after I got here. I obviously thought he was cute so I decided to ask him out, now here we are.”

Shizuo smirked at my clearly made up story. I nudged him with my elbow playfully.

“That’s pretty ballsy of you to walk up to a guy like him and ask him out!” Shinra remarked, poking fun at Shizuo.

“You better rethink that remark,” Shizuo said in a challenging tone, crossing his arms.

“Aw come on, let me joke around with you for once!” Shinra whined. He came back into the living room with three steaming mugs of tea and set them all down on the coffee table, then picked up his mug and began blowing at the cup so he could take a sip. I bent over and grabbed my cup as well. Shizuo waited a sec for his to cool down before he bent over to grab his. Celty then turned on the TV and flipped it to the news, where a Blood Diamond attack story was being covered.

“Dammit, those bastards are starting to get a name for themselves,” Shizuo grumbled, gulping down every last drop of his tea.

[That’s their fifth attack this week.]

“Yeah, me being one of them,” Shizuo remarked. “I’m gonna find a way to put an end to their little bullshit gang. And I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that fleabag is behind it all.” I felt his angry energy rise as he unintentionally shattered the cup in one hand while he spoke. The sight shocked everyone in the room.

“Shizuoooo! I really wish you’d stop breaking our cups, we just bought these!” Shinra frantically set his cup down on the coffee table then jumped up to grab a broom and dustpan out of the kitchen.

“Huh?” he looked down and realized what he just did, his energy falling back to neutral. “Oh, sorry, I’ll buy you another one.”

“Whatever, just don’t forget to this time,” Shinra said in a huffy tone. He quickly cleaned up Shizuo’s mess with the broom and dustpan, slid the broken glass into their garbage can, put the cleaning supplies back into the kitchen closet, then came back and sat down next to Shizuo.

“I don’t think Izaya would have anything to do this gang, though,” Shinra continued the conversation about the Blood Diamonds. “Last I heard he moved to Saitama and vowed to never return here.”

“No, he’s back, I saw him before I met her,” Shizuo grumbled as he nudged me. “When I find that bastard I’m gonna make him wish he never showed his face here.”

[Izaya’s back?!] Celty responded.

“Oh jeez,” Shinra facepalmed and shook his head in shame. “Hopefully he’s not gonna be stupid enough to mess with you right now.”

I wish you were right… I thought, thinking about everything that’s happened with Izaya so far and everything he said to me on the phone earlier. As I finished my cup of tea and set it down on the coffee table, the news caught my attention:

“In other news, this morning an anonymous source sent in amazing footage of an American woman here in Tokyo turning invisible next to an alleyway, becoming visible, and running into the alleyway to a blonde haired man lying on the ground covered in blood,” the news anchor stated. Everyone in the room watched the news as my eyes widened in fear and disgust. Before me played footage of the night that I saved Shizuo, mirroring exactly everything I did from what looked to be from above.

“Wait a minute, (your name),” Shizuo said, “Is that… US?” anger rose in his voice and energy.  

The newsman continued, “She appears to be spreading a green light through her fingertips and onto a local man, which appeared to have pulled bullets out of his back and made his neck snap back into place. We haven’t gotten any details on who this woman is; officials are currently looking into finding the identity of this woman and ….” I became blinded with anger and my body shook violently to what I’d just seen; everything around me disappeared as my blood boiled. I put my head into my hands, bent down and collapsed onto my lap to keep myself from exploding with rage.

Izaya has just exposed me to all of Tokyo, possibly to the entire world. I tried so damn hard to keep what I am a secret with the exception of Shizuo and Celty, but he was one step ahead of me. He did tell me on the phone he watched me on the rooftop but he didn’t tell me he had recorded the whole thing and sent it to a fucking news station! This is what happened in my hometown all over again. People in Tokyo will fear me, I now have the officials here looking for me, trying to kick me out of Ikebukuro. I’ll lose my job, I’ll have to become confined to my house, and all of it is because of him.

Fucking… Izaya… Stop… My thoughts became jumbled. I’m…. gonna make him pay…

“(your name), (your name)!” Shizuo’s voice broke through my thoughts and brought me back down to earth. “Are you okay? What the hell is going on?!”

I lifted my head up, looked at him for a second, then broke down into his arms. He wrapped his arms around me, understanding how I felt but still not understanding why someone had recorded that very moment.

“What is going on here?” Shinra asked. “Was that actually you two on TV?”

“Yeah, to be honest, that video is how we actually met,” Shizuo explained. “I was just hit by those Blood bastards, then she came in and used healing magic on me to save my life.”

“Healing magic?! Like, dungeons and dragons, healing magic?!” Shinra adjusted his glasses, wide-eyed and fascinated by the whole story. “Are you kidding me? How is that even real?!”

I sighed miserably, Might as well spill the beans .

“I’m a witch, I have been for most of my life.” I said.

“No way, that’s… that’s phenomenal! I've met other kinds of entities before, but I never thought I'd get to meet a witch! Can I ask you something? Would you be willing to let me dissect you and…” Black smoky shadows suddenly came up from behind Shinra and covered his mouth, causing him to stop talking and to try to pull them off. “Aw Celty, come on!” his muffled voice came through the shadows.

Celty summoned her phone from her sleeve and typed into it:

[Sorry about him, you know how he is with this stuff, Shizuo.]

Shizuo sighed and nodded.

[Let’s get to the bottom of this right now.] She turned off the TV then typed into her phone:

[Do either of you know who might’ve recorded you two during that?]

“I know exactly who it was….” I said, preparing myself for what I was about to say. Everyone in the room looked at me, waiting for my answer.

I’m sorry, Shizuo… I wish I had more time before Izaya pulled this shit…

“It was… Izaya.”

“Huh?” Shizuo let go of me so that he could look me in the eyes, his fury rising again. “What makes you think it was him?”

“He told me everything on the phone before you got me at work earlier,” I said. “He has been messing with us almost the entire time we’ve been together. He also told me that he is the leader of the Blood Diamonds.”

“He... WHAT?!” Shizuo stood up, believing my story instantly. Just like Izaya had said, he stomped towards the door in anger to go after him. I jumped up to grab his arm and the back of his black vest to attempt to stop him.

“No, don’t go after him!” I cried. “You’ll make it worse! He told me he was plotting something deadly for you once you found out it was him the whole time!”

“I don’t give a damn!” he growled angrily. “He’s gonna pay for ALL of this!”

I was suddenly held back by something, causing me to lose my grip on him and watch him open the door and slam it behind him, also forgetting his shoes. I looked down to see that Celty had taken her shadows off of Shinra’s mouth and wrapped them around my waist to keep me from following Shizuo. I looked at her in confusion as she took her shadows off of me.

She typed into her phone and showed it to me:

[Let him go so he can cool off. After pulling a stunt like that, Izaya’s likely hiding somewhere that Shizuo won’t be able to find him, so he’ll be back here in about an hour or two.]

“Also, try not to worry too much about that tv footage,” Shinra said, putting a hand on my shoulder for reassurance. “I’m sure a lot of people will ask you about it but they’re also going to assume that it was heavily edited or for show.”

I sighed, “I really hope so. I… I just can’t believe he's doing this. All I did was save Shizuo and now Izaya’s attacking me for it.”

Celty typed some more into her phone:

[I have an idea why he might be attacking both of you]

[Shizuo and Izaya have been down each other’s throats like that practically since they’ve met.]  

[Every so often Izaya would show up to taunt Shizuo, causing a huge mess in town and Shizuo would chase him around until Izaya loses him or he attempts to get him killed.]

[Nothing has killed Shizuo yet, but I imagine Izaya plots to do harsher things to him every single day.]

[But now that you’re with Shizuo, and Izaya knows what you are, he sees both of you as “monsters” and will try to make both of your lives miserable.]

[I think he’s gone a bit too far this time though.]

What have I gotten myself into by coming here? This is absolutely insane, I thought.

[But don’t worry, we can get this taken care of in some way or another.]

“You should stay the night here since the cops are looking for you,” Shinra said. “It’s probably your best bet until this all blows over. We have an extra room you can stay in.”

“Okay, I’ll do that,” I said, breathing out a sigh of relief.

Shizuo was right about them, I thought. Celty and Shinra are definitely great people. And Celty’s more human than any human I know.

I walked up to Celty and hugged her like she was a long friend of mine. I felt her body tensed up to my sudden reaction. I then walked over to Shinra and hugged him too. He had the same reaction, but then hugged me back.

“Thank you so much for everything,” I said to both of them, letting go of Shinra. “For not being afraid of me, and for helping me out with all of this. I’m thankful that I don’t have to face this alone.”

“It’s fine!” Shinra smiled. “We run into this kind of thing with him a lot. He likes to stir up trouble just to observe people’s reactions but he’s really gone off the deep end this time. Usually this kind of thing resolves itself but we’ll see if we can help it before it gets any worse.”

Shinra led me into their spare bedroom so that I could find it once I was ready to go to sleep.

“Honestly, I had to work today so I’m pretty worn out,” I said. “I hope you don’t mind that I go ahead and try to get some sleep.”

“No, not at all,” he replied. “Help yourself out to whatever in the kitchen if you’re feeling hungry or thirsty. Celty and I are going to head off to bed too.”

“Okay, goodnight,” I said.