Sorry for the wait! This chapter is almost completely crossed over into the realm of anime haha, but if you didn't know already, basically, Yato is a broke god who wants his own shrine. He was the god of war, but is right now an "Odd-Job" god. Ikebukuro is a district (?) in Tokyo and I'm using it with the Durarara setting. Most cross-over characters won't play a huge role in this fanfic, and the actual cross-over portion would probably be a different story after this one...

Part of the reason why this chapter took so long was because I messed up the timeline pretty bad for Durarara and then realized a whole chunk of the middle, italicized part didn't work either and had to rewrite a bunch.

Time to take some creative freedom because I don't know the source material as well as I thought I did… (^ ^ U)

Thank you for the reviews/comments/favorites/follows/kudos/votes and all the other things people have been doing with this story!

Word count: 2,017 XD

Chapter 6: Mystery

Ikebukuro was a mix of neon lights and tall buildings. The sky was a small sunken hole of darkness, far from the streets that remained as bright as ever. Many people were still outside, chatting with bags in hand and smiles on their faces. A few crowded here and there, giving off an overall feeling of city night life and grown-up parties. Harry looked around with wide eyes that reflected the lively lights around him.

"This is it? This is Ikeburu… Ikeburo…Iburo… um... "

"Ikebukuro?" Yato corrected.

"Yes! You sure this is the place?" Harry hurried to stick closer to Yato. The crowds of people were pushing him back and he was afraid of losing sight of the older man. On the other hand, he didn't want to hold onto Yato as he was independent now, like an adult. Yato raised an eyebrow, bemused.

"What do you mean by that? It's what the sign said, right?"

"Right... Well, it looks a bit… crowded… and wild here…" the boy hesitated.

"Hmmm… well, you'll be fine! Just stick to the brighter areas and you'll be safe!" Yato clapped him on the shoulder, then marched forward firmly. Harry immediately grabbed him, slowing him down, but he only got dragged along.

"Wait! Let's stay in a hotel today!" he insisted. Yato stared at him for a while. Tears suddenly sprouted from his eyes.

"But that'll require a lot of money…" he whined loudly. The image of a confident, big person immediately dissolved into a rather pitiful-looking mess.

"You should have enough money," Harry said uncertainly. "At least for the night…"

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

They stared at each other stubbornly for a minute, as though it was a competition.

"Alright, alright," Yato finally conceded with a slight pout. "I'll pay for a room. Only today though, got that?"

Harry responded with enthusiastic gestures. They made their way to a cheap, nearby hotel. On their way to the brightly lit place, Harry was yanked over by Yato as a pair of young men, older than himself, but shorter than Yato, chased after each other and almost got hit by the traffic. Harry stared warily, shocked at the scene.

"Be careful kid," Yato patted him on the head. Harry ducked down, quickly snapping his mouth shut. It looked like Ikebukuro would be an interesting place to stay for awhile…

The hotel lights washed the hall with white. They booked a single room for the night, the hotel lady eyeing Yato suspiciously. The soft rocking of the elevator lured in the feeling of fatigue. The boy felt his eyelids grow heavy. With a quiet sigh, he lightly rested his head against the bigger man and dozed off.

"There is a curse cast upon you that I must address immediately."

A familiar man announced softly, peering down at a small boy, a frown on his face as he gently pressed a finger against the boy's forehead. The child blinked back while staying silent as death, his pale blue eyes blank and unseeing as they stared up towards the other man's deep black ones. The man sighed and slowly rubbed the boy's head. Strands of long, blond hair caught his fingers.

"We should cut this."

There was no response from the boy other than a slight nod.

"As I was saying," the tall man continued, "there is a curse on you that may become a danger to both you and I. I am unable to remove it, but I have a way to delay its effects until we find someone who can. Here, sit down."

He maneuvered the boy till he sat on a small chair underneath a row of crystal candles. His eyes turned grim as he held up a hand to draw a series of complicated symbols, similar to runes, which instilled a sense of confusion in the boy. The runes appeared in the air.

"Take off your robe," he instructed calmly. The boy acquiesced and the ragged tunic the boy was wearing rolled down his shoulders, falling in a heavy heap on the floor. He was still wearing a large pair of trousers that barely fit him, but his top remained bare to the man. The dark-haired man waved his hands in some majestic patterns and uttered a few words in a foreign language, spells most likely, which triggered the runes in the air to glow blue as they sank into the boy's back. They reappeared on skin, looking not like runes, but rather like a set of elaborate, almost symmetrical tattoos that spread across the whole upper back. Black swirls and waves lied in thick strokes across the boy's shoulder blades, some even reaching the upper arms. The man brushed the boy's long hair back in place and fitted him in thick robes lined with white fur.

The boy had lost some of his emptiness and was struggling to glance at his back, at his new tattoo, with something akin to amazement and wonder in his eyes.

"It's magic," the man smiled. "It could help him you know. Do you want to learn?"

A light lit up in the boy's eyes as he said his first words to the man.

"Please teach me."

"H...Hey…... Hey!"

A muffled voice gradually grew louder and clearer as the mist in his mind dissipated. Harry opened his eyes to electric blue, Yato's concerned face right in front of his own.

"Hey kiddo, you got to wake up now… we're here!"

"Y-Yato…?"

"Yeah, that's me, the broke deity!" The man announced proudly before slumping back down when he realized what he just said. "Anyway, we should go eat some food. I heard there's a pretty good store nearby! Let's go fill ourselves up a bit!"

Harry wanted to protest that Yato had already spent enough money for him, with the hotel room and all, but he was swiftly dragged off the soft bed and out of their room. Outside, the crowds have not lessened in number. In fact, more people seemed to linger in the streets. Harry thought he saw a lot of people wearing blue around, but the dream he's just had and the constant notice of Yato's blue eyes must've made him extra sensitive to that color. They entered the restaurant with a warm welcome from a big man who towered over Yato. He distinctively did not look Japanese, his dark skin making him stick out among the other people out on the streets that night. Yato took a seat near the booth and patted a spot next to him.

"Come sit!"

Harry gingerly sat down.

"Hey kiddo, what do you want to eat? Sushi? Look, the fish in the sushi looks fresh too!" Yato asked enthusiastically.

Harry made a face.

"What, do you not like sushi?" Yato asked.

"Not with raw fish in it!" the boy protested.

"Why not?"

Harry took awhile to think about it. He never understood why he disliked some food. The feeling of disgust came to him as easily as his love for treacle tarts.

"I don't know," he eventually answered. "Does it really matter?"

"Well it narrows the list down a bit, ya know, for the next time you want to eat food in Japan," Yato tried to explain.

"Like tomorrow morning?" Harry asked.

"Uh… yeah!"

Feeling the conversation get more and more confusing, Harry opted to peruse the menu instead. He squinted to read the small English words underneath the Japanese ones and pressed the menu close to his face. Yato tapped him on the shoulder.

"What about this-"

"What is that?"

"Nukazuke pickles! I think they're a specialty here too!"

Harry wrinkled his nose.

"You don't like those either? You're such a picky eater!" Yato exclaimed loudly.

"Am not!" Harry replied loudly. "Let's have noodles. Or something else like sushi without fish in them!"

The two settled deeper into their seats, bantering and picking out a few dishes they would like to eat. When the food arrived, with a slightly scary smile from the big man who went back to advertising before the store, Harry had already forgotten about his familiar dream from a while ago. He picked up a pair of wooden sticks, called chopsticks if his memory was correct, and tried to use them to pick the food off his plate. It was rather difficult and Yato teased him greatly for it.

"What are you doing?" he asked between bursts of laughter. Harry pouted and played around with the sticks.

"How do you use these?"

"You're in Japan and you don't know how to use chopsticks?"

Harry flushed in embarrassment and turned to ignore Yato who immediately tried to placate him.

"Alright alright Harry, no need to make that face. Mmm… this is good. Wait kid what- Hey, don't just stab the food! Hey!"

Was there someone talking to him? No, it must've been be his imagination.

"Hey kid, what are you doing that's not how-"

"Mmmm, so gooood!" Harry made a pleased face as he took a bite from his rice ball. Yato sighed in resignation. His face turned serious.

"Anyway, I can't stay here for long. I was searching for something and it's too dangerous not to have it. You can't come with me either."

"What is it?" Harry inquired curiously.

"A weapon, a partner, a shiki to slay akuma," the other man replied, still frowning at his food.

"Shiki? Akuma?"

"It's something supernatural. An akuma seems to be stuck on yo-... You don't need to worry about this, kid. I'll bring you to someone I trust tomorrow and you can stay with them in the meanwhile."

"Hmm…" Harry frowned, still curious, but he let it go for the moment. The food was too good to ruin it by thinking too deeply about this. He would ask Yato more about it when they got back to the hotel. While he was told not to worry, Yato seems kind of certain that this did apply to himself. He was about to say "you" afterall. Maybe some readings in a nearby library is due. Harry idly wondered if Yato wasn't joking about being a delivery god. He had thought it was simply an exaggeration of how quickly he could get his stuff done, but now with the mention of the supernatural…

It made him remember that strange dream he had earlier, the one with the familiar blond boy. Who was that kid? Why was he dreaming about him? Were the dreams connected to why he was sent to the Dursleys a year ago? He could vaguely remember a dream of the boy smiling, a dream he had right before he was sent off to the Muggle World...

"U-um, I have another wish, i-is that alright?" Harry spoke up hesitantly.

"Yes, what is it? Delivery god Yato will get it done!" Yato spun back towards him with a wink and a grin that made him look completely different from his previously serious look. Harry wondered if the cheerfulness was just a facade.

"I've been having bizarre dreams lately… well, not quite lately and not quite that bizarre, but there's always this blond boy and this dark-haired man who shows up in them. Can you help me find out who they are? I was sent off to my relatives who left me in Japan because… well, because a doctor thought I was ill or… something. You know, since I was dreaming restlessly I think. But maybe I'm not? Sick, I mean? Maybe if we figured out why I keep having those dreams… I can go… home…?"

Yes, going home sounded nice. Home was something he did not have for a year. Plus, if he could figure out the mystery of the blond boy, he could find a way to cheer him up. The boy sounded lonely and Harry felt a connection to him, more so than with his twin brother Fergus, even though they were just dreams and probably never met before. However, something within Harry told him that the boy was real and that solving this mystery might change something fundamental in his life…

Please Read and Review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!