I've caught Tom staring at me with concern a few times for the past couple of days. Ever since Izaya decided to oh-so courteously to join me at work every day. I'm pretty sure Tom has even caught me whispering to Izaya a few times.
Which from his view, must look insane.
I let out a sigh, curving around the corner of the street as I followed Tom to our next location. It's almost been a week since Izaya first discovered he was able to follow me to work. Since then he's invited himself along every day!
My sight slid to the side, I could see Izaya's flittering form at the corner of my eye. It was a rare, and very welcome moment of silence where he seemed to be thinking instead of quoting some phycological viewpoint, which he made sound insane coming from his sharp tongue.
I took a deep breath in, deciding to bask in the silence while I still had the chance.
With a slow halt, Tom and I were met with an old apartment that housed our next debtor. Izaya make a slight hum as he looked around the area. With a curious glance, I looked his way, expecting some sort of cross remark.
"Hello?"
A tilted man in his forties creaked the door open with a peek. His eyes were sunken deep as he stared between the two of us for some sort of explanation.
"What can I do for you?" His eyes were bloodshot, pupils blown wide as he stood tilted against the door. The man almost smelt rancid, something naturally fowl about him that irked something of a familiar stench to me.
Tom gave his best attempt of a service smile and began speaking to him about his, what I might comment, large debt. I tuned out Tom as he replayed similar lines I've heard time and time again; accusatory debt, long overdue dates, interest amounts, all discussions that made the man grow paler.
I shifted my weight to the side, giving him a glare from behind Tom as an absent threat not to try anything. The situation wasn't anything out of the norm, as a matter of fact, most people we visited looked as run down as this man, nervous and jittery in his place.
Izaya's reaction to the man though wasn't in its normality.
His face held something cold as he stared at the man, calculating eyes flickering up and down the man's figure as he observe their conversation. His face held no sickening amusement, or disgust similar to my or Tom's faces.
Instead, it was just cold, artful, and examining. Like he was taking in every detail of the situation with the entirety of his attention.
With a hesitant glance, I looked back towards the target of Izaya's attention. The man had managed to become even more fidgety, half shielded behind his door, his hands gripped for balance on the door frame as his eyes held something unresponsive.
"Shizu-chan, I think that man is in the midst of an overdose." Izaya's voice was calm, glancing over towards me, meeting my gaze with his full attention.
My head jerked in surprise. An overdose?!
"Tom-" I was just about to speak to Tom about the man's condition, when said man keeled over, door closing more as he leaned on it for support.
"Sir? Sir! Are you alright?" Tom was quick to act, cautious as he approached the barely open entry. Tom glanced back towards me with a warning look, a familiar look that read "Be ready for anything." It was common that people would throw theatrics, hysterics, and acts of despair to try and get some pity towards their collector, but this time I knew it was different.
Izaya ignored our little insightful conversation and fazed straight through the wall of the apartment to look inside instead.
With a stern hand, I nudged the door open and looked down to see the man on his knees, mumbling something incoherent as he held his head in his hands.
"Tom, call an ambulance, I think he's having an overdose...or something" U mumbled the end with a strange uncertainty. I glanced back as I saw Tom give an inquisitory look, but nodded and was quick to call help.
I leaned down by his side and placed my hand on his shoulder. I had no clue how to help the man, all I could think to do was support the man with my hand so he didn't fall over. I helped him into a more comfortable sitting position that allowed him to breathe a little easier.
With a quick scan of the dim room, I saw Izaya on the far side of the hall, that black smog threatening to pull him back towards me if he dared take a few steps more. He was looking through the entryway of a room, the light still turned on and humming low, a meek white glow reflecting off Izaya's face as he stared inside.
I shook my head. Stay focused Shizuo, there is a man currently dying in front of you. You can ask what Izaya is doing later.
The old man cried out a sob as his head hung low, slouching down further against the door as his torso shriveled deep. With a sturdy grip, I gently settled the man onto laying on his back so that he could rest.
As I pulled my hands away I noticed a few flakes of blood chipped off the man's skin.
"Shit- Tom I think the man's bleeding too," I mumbled in a hurry, Tom cursed under his breath as he continued talking over the phone.
"Shizu-chan that's not his blood." Izaya came closer, hovering over my shoulder as he looked down at the man on the floor. "There's a body in the bathroom." I blinked slowly as he explained.
A body?
The man murdered somebody?
"Who?" I whispered allowed, not sure if I was asking who the body was or the murderer as I stared up at Izaya with a measly attempt of getting an answer. He flicked his wrist, pointing towards a table that laid a cracked picture frame. There was a man and a younger girl, around thirteen years old or so.
"It appeared to be his daughter."
I felt sick- my hands flinched back from the man's body.
This bastard had-
His own daughter-
My fingers twitched as I was quick to back away from the man, phasing entirely through Izaya as I did. I couldn't help but look back at the man once I deemed myself far enough, but to my relief, his face had been hazed out. Izaya's black-clothed legs stood in front of him as some sort of barrier.
I dared not look at the bathroom that stretched down the hall behind me. That rancid smell hit my nose with fury. I folded my arms tight to hide my, now, shaking hands.
Ah, now I recognize it. It was blood.
God- this was sick.
Disgusting.
I felt a tingle brush the back of my throat as I began to feel nauseous. I swallowed and pulled my head away from staring down the man writhing weakly on the floor.
Izaya's gaze held something calm as he stared back at me. He was observing the whole situation as it unfold, nothing held firm on his face as he watched me crumble. Crumble because as soon as I dared tear my eyes away from the hazed man-
I was met with red eyes.
And it dawned on me.
I was no better than that disgusting murderer that lie dying on the ground.
His lashes flittered something delicate as he peered back. I had never realized just how human Izaya was until it was too late. Until I had already taken that last bit of humanity away from him. Izaya had always called me a monster, but I thought he was the devil.
The sound of sirens came closer from outside, along with Tom's voice mingling with a few others as a few paramedics came rushing in. They were quick to work, checking his pulse and carefully moving him to the gurney.
The girl. What if she was still breathing? What if there was still a chance-
"Shizu-chan, don't say anything. Let them handle it. The authorities will search the house soon enough when they discover the blood isn't his." Izaya added with a stern look, "There is no reason to get involved further."
My fingers twitched. I kept my head low and nodded, walking outside and out of the paramedic's way with my eyes glued to the ground.
Tom met me outside, just finishing up answering the questions the paramedics had. Two more walked behind him, a hushed conversation about contacting the police as they rushed into the ambulance with a roar of the engine and deafening blare of their sirens.
The air felt heavy as the sounds of the ambulance drifted further, mingling with the symphony of shrieking police sirens that came closer.
Tom let out a tired sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. "You can go home for the day Shizuo, I'll deal with this." His eyes held sympathy as he glanced down towards my still tight hands that were kept folded close to my chest.
I felt pathetic.
I forced down a swallow and nodded, croaking out a, "Yeah, alright- thanks Tom." as I left.
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Shizu-chan had been silent the whole walk back to his apartment. I decided to pity the beast and walked back in silence along with him.
It was quite obvious just how much the previous scene had gotten under his skin. His hands were still held tight at his sides and his head hung low, avoiding eye contact with every passerby.
I wasn't blind to the nervous glances he kept sending my way either.
With a soft creak, we passed the threshold of his apartment, Shizu-chan turning towards the bathroom, the sound of the faucets rushing water echoing soon after.
With the liberty the place would allow, I separated from Shizu-chan inside the confines of his apartment. I figured I should at least allow some time for him to be by himself.
A moment for me to think as well.
I "leaned" against the wall and stared out the window, allowing myself to get lost in my thoughts.
Those sorts of occurrences weren't common, the theatrics of murder was a popular crime amongst humans. But I suppose even if Shizu-chan was a beast, he wasn't used to that level of monstrosity apart from himself.
The world was a harsh place, my humans were even crueler when they need be.
They thrived in this world after all...
My face softened as I heard Shizuo's door soft click shut behind him.
Shizu-chan wasn't like them, he had never been. Almost the complete opposite of what my humans had.
Everyone had their own personal level of brittleness. A strong mind or wavering soul, humans always thrived amidst the mind instead of their weak bodies.
They flourish in lies and false emotions.
Craving attention, power, greed, lust, every dubious sin a man could think of was common courtesy among the human race. And they mixed perfectly with those sweet little lies of love and affection all of them seemed to crave alongside their neighboring sins.
Humans had brittle bones and extensive minds. They were predictable.
Shizu-chan was the opposite.
Shizu'chan's skin was like leather, bones made of steel, and strength like no other. Yet his mind held simple ideologies. He had held pure hopes and held his own devastating truths close. He fought for what he thought was right and had the innocence of a child when it came to the world's cruel realities. He acted on emotions instead of plotting schemes.
He was unpredictable.
That's why I had never been able to see him the same as my lovely humans. Sure physically and mostly anatomically he appeared as if any other, but that's where the similarities end.
Shizu-chan was something different. He couldn't be human.
Sure he has his emotions, guilt, anguish, worry, admiration. But those emotions never defiled his sense of right and wrong.
And tonight, he was no different. His desire to help a dying man, to lay him to rest so that he may feel more comfortable, to try at a chance of rescuing a girl who had already long bled out.
Shizu-chan was almost pure, every faint trickle of tyranny that cracked his surface would heal back quickly but never be forgotten. Engraved on his skin like metal branding his flesh. Like every wrongdoing, Shizuo or his humans had revealed left the man unshelved and torn before he healed within the hour with a new freshly painted scar.
He was a fool, had always been a fool, and perhaps always will. He wore his heart on his sleeve and let it crumble from his own wrath and mistakes. All so that the process could repeat.
His humans held mysteries within their minds, twists and paths left astray by betrayal. Yet their actions held something simple, starvation for survival yearning for a path that always led the most painless.
Yet Shizuo was simple-minded, he acted on impulse and was quick to rise from the ash with an anger-stricken goal. But he yearned for something complex, entangled in guilt and wrongdoings with his every mistake as he fumbled through life. He yearned for the path which was most painful.
My head rested against the windowpane as I let out a sigh. Fingers curled as I manipulated the remaining lights to turn off as the sun began to set to allow the shadow to encase the room.
That's why I was positive Shizuo wasn't a human. But something else entirely.
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No where in my notes did it say anything about a murder scenario but here we are. I needed something to happen to allow them to grow closer and I suppose this is what my brain decided for whatever reason.
Anyways- as always hope you enjoyed!
((p.s I've stopped adding the "POVS" because I found them uncessary. That is unless people want them-))