I always veer off the path of the fluff into something more…strange.

-Note- Concept is still the same, a bit into the future. Some mild spoilers on Celty's head.

Wtf is logic...if someone knows, please tell me. xD Oh dear...
Special thanks to Yumi for editing.

Declaration of Death pt.2

"Shizu-chan…" Izaya merely proceeded to stand from his vinyl swivel chair, poised, seemly unaffected by the fact that an uninvited guest managed to break into his office. Most likely, security had nothing on the blonde, and the information broker had to consider serious threat removals. His crimson hues would flicker hastily to and hastily back from the towering bookcase. They lined one side of wall to this office, holding carefully chosen tomes of history and mythology as well as a couple of encyclopedias that were placed in scattered positions without following any kind of alphabetical pattern. Behind choice volumes, a beautiful head slept in a glass capsule, something the brunette would want to keep a secret. Sliding his hands deep into both pockets, he grasped the smooth handle of his ever trusted switchblade. He didn't know when he would need it, but he was ready. Always.

"What an unpleasant surprise," Izaya carried on, with sarcastic optimism, watching his rival with weary caution. Shizuo was winded, but the blonde seemed to be trying to hide this fact, sucking in air and holding it for seconds longer then he knew he should. The informer watched this, hoping for a mental stalemate. He couldn't afford for Shizuo to find out about the dullahan's head. That thought alone kept him unnaturally still, waiting for an explanation for the sudden intrusion. In fact, it was a miracle that the blonde hadn't already tried to throw anything at him yet. Izaya sensed that there was going to be at least some talk.

"What did you do with it…?" A low growl penetrated the thick air, and Izaya leaned against his desk, his vision fleeing off the blonde in defense.

The brunette's mind was already contemplating how to make a run for it when he replied in a obscure manner, full of protective denial. "I don't know what you're talking about. Don't you have work to do? Or did you get fired again-"

Izaya had to stop himself. He didn't want the protozoan angry right now, but the look on Shizuo's face said that he was already beyond that point. That was exactly why the informer couldn't stand the bodyguard. He could not be reasoned with, and worse, when he reached a certain limit, there was no telling what he'd do. Shizuo paced forward in a few easy steps and clutched the other by his collar. "What…did…you…do…with…it…?"

Their eyes were forced to meet in that state, and Izaya sighed, knowing denying things further would just lead to mindless pummeling and destruction of property. Maybe he could buy time. "Who tipped you off with such nonsense?"

"Celty." The blonde grumbled. "Why did you keep it?"

Huh? Well that was strange. Izaya tipped his head to the side in the most comfortable position he was allowed to manage in that state, and pondered. "First of all, I don't know what you're talking about. I've said that, and that part is important. Second of all, if Celty was curious, why didn't she come herself?"

Shizuo tossed the brunette backwards and he crossed his arms over his chest. The flea's back landed on a corner and he winced before scrambling back up. "Why would she?"

Okay. Now Izaya was genuinely confused. It was her own head, wasn't it? Shizuo didn't have any business snooping around for her sake when it was clearly obvious that Celty would be able to overpower him if she was in her serious mode. The woman couldn't die for crying out loud, and he was just a human. When the brunette snapped out of his trance, he found himself facing a rampaging Shizuo, who took that time to start destroying chunks of his office. His sofa had been turned over and the television was pulled out of its den, cable ripped apart in the middle rather then from the sockets. The blonde was about to open one suspicious looking closet when Izaya rushed over and shouted. "What on earth are you looking for, idiot?! …And don't open that, it's not safe!"

But the blonde denied his enemy's warning, for who would have thought that Izaya would worry about anyone's wellbeing? So the door was opened, and out came an avalanche of items. The informer watched anxiously as board games, racquets, and even clay pots (for hotpot usage) came spilling out. Before anyone could ask him who in the right mind did he have to share all these two to six player activities with, the brunette wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

Spitting a piece of lego out of his mouth, Shizuo started to dig himself out of the mess. In an extremely calm yet dangerous voice, he groaned. "Hey flea bastard."

Reluctantly, "…Yes…?"

"Why the fuck do you still have this?" Out of the rubble, he pulled out some extremely battered signposts, grouped together in one, bound by tough rope.

Izaya slowly removed his hands from his face and stared. Oh. Oh that.

"Er…and how are you and Shinra anyway?" Shizuo changed the subject when Celty started to frantically recount her trauma about the alien type, little gray. The blonde found himself awkward at comforting girls, or anyone for that matter. He guessed Shinra was a safe topic, and at the same time, called out to the underground doctor mentally to help him out in this situation. He would probably know what to do about his girlfriend.

Celty paused for a moment and snuggled her shoulders closer, her helmet tilting down, as if embarrassed. She slowly lifted her slim fingers back on her PDA and clicked gracefully. "We're doing just fine. Thanks for asking. Shinra would help me right? I'm sure if we were to encounter them, he would be the one to dissect them instead."

The blonde furrowed his brows and covered over the sunglasses with his hand, wondering whether to agree or try another attempt to stray from this subject. He definitely didn't want to imagine his childhood friend hovering over an operation table laughing in glee at his imported victims. "H-hey Celty, aren't you hungry?"

Oops.

After an awkward silence, "Sorry………"

"Nononono! It happens," Celty tapped, then waved her arms frantically into the air, her helmet bobbling up and down. She quickly searched for a topic in her mind and smacked them down on her PDA without a second thought. "And? You and Izaya? Did you kill him yet?"

Shizuo cringed at the name, but he held back. An eye for an eye, he supposed. Sighing deeply, he replied with renowned gusto. "No. That little bastard! He keeps getting away. But I swear, if he sets foot in Ikebukuro again, he'll be dead."

The dullahan's fingers brushed the lower part of her helmet, where her mouth would have been if she had a head. She shook slightly as if giggling, and patted him on his back. "You guys never get bored do you? Well, it's a good thing to keep a promise, no matter how weird that promise is."

"Promise?"

"Yes," Celty typed. "Sorry if I wasn't supposed to know, but I was curious as to why he wanted me to help him carry a bunch of signposts back to his place."

"What?" Shizuo stood up.

Izaya was unsure if he should be glad that Celty's head wasn't the main objective, or to be mildly embarrassed that Shizuo had still remembered about this. He plastered an incredibly forced smile on his face to hide this fact; while shrugging, "It reminded me of you."

For a moment, there was silence, each staring rather expressionlessly at the other in utter awkwardness.

As if suddenly deciding something, Shizuo's grin was formed, equally forced, his anger brimming all the way over to his fingertips as he started to sit up, creating some indents into the supporting floor. "Flea bastard, you must be one hell of a retard if you kept this knowing what it is."

"Death declaration," The informer exhaled in exasperation. "Exactly what I intended with my own present for you."

"Then…if you kept it after all these years, you were waiting for me to kill you." The blonde loomed dangerously close, his rough hand fitting tightly over his prey's neck. Skinny as it was, it had endured countless damages, though the pale complexion refused to show it outwardly. Even so, Shizuo could easily snap it and end it all for the brunette if he chose to do so. Knowing this, Izaya still smiled, albeit uncomfortably, tracing over the knife in his pocket. It wouldn't do any good since there was no way it could do any serious damage, but it still put the man at ease feeling its familiar surface.

The pain around his reddening neck didn't deteriorate any of the informer's sense of calm. He supposed that getting out of here alive might be possible, still. Then again, he liked to play with fire. "Shizu-chan. Why are you saying this now when you've been trying ever since we met?"

"Shuddup, I'm killing you, but you won't die," and the marks deepening around the circumference and the brunette's subtle gasps of choking proved this fact. "But I'll kill you anyway."

"What kind of reasoning-"

"You," Shizuo cut him off. "Can't complain."

Izaya raised an eyebrow in annoyance, since he was unable to voice out his thoughts anymore. He simply stared, perplexed, trying to keep some air channeling, wondering why his neck was still intact.

"Being dead means you have no say over your own body anymore," Shizuo answered. "I'm going to kill you dead, and you consented to that. Which means…"

And Izaya would blush before their lips met midair, his mind processing the situation faster then it occurred. The blonde pulled away, and the grip over the shorter male started to loosen.

"You can't complain no matter what I do to you."

Izaya stood in shock, his pale face turning a flaming red to match his eyes. He scrambled for words in panic. "Shi…Shizu-chan, you idiot! That's not logical! I hate you!"

Shizuo twitched. "Then why didn't you fucking throw it away?"

The informer involuntarily fell silent, trying to fumble around in his mind for an excuse. There was none that seemed to fit the situation without contradicting himself. Casting his eyes downward in defeat, he muttered. "A promise…"

The blonde looked confused, but Izaya didn't continue his sentence.

After all that, he wasn't about to say that Shizuo was the only one that was allowed to kill him. That back then, he also wanted to be the only one that could kill the blonde. That the signpost was a reminder of such nonsense, not to mention the only entity of their twisted relationship. A promise to try and kill each other until the day that one of them died.