Chapter 22

"I'm delighted you weren't seriously hurt."

This was Izaya's greeting when Arisa stepped through his home's front door. She spent a good part of the day with Shizuo before returning "home".

Arisa looked at Izaya for a long moment, expecting him to laugh. When he didn't, she replied, "Hi. You're still your chipper self."

"Another day of drudgery staring at my monitor is over. Of course I am."

She could relate. Russia Sushi had its slow and boring days. The thought reminded her that she had to head over there soon for her shift. "Today must've been fun for you, fighting right in the morning."

Izaya grinned. "I was exhilarated. Then again, I usually am when faced with dear Shizu-chan." His dark eyes locked onto hers. "Why destroy such a beautiful setup?"

Arisa felt relief when she understood he wasn't going to finish off Shizuo. From the quirky way Izaya kept wiggling his brows at her, Arisa thought maybe he never intended to actually do anything else but fight Shizuo. That the whole threat on his life was a scheme of Izaya's to shake up his daily events.

"You're really something, Izaya."

A prolonged, curious stare was his response. He eventually muttered, "I didn't think you'd become something, myself."

A wistful air in his statement made him sound like he wasn't speaking directly at Arisa, despite his eyesight staring right at her. Arisa didn't understand exactly what he meant, but his expression didn't hold his typical hardness so Arisa assumed he wasn't being a bastard. "Yeah... thanks."

"Mind if I tag along with you when you work tomorrow?"

"Yes I do." Arisa rolled her eyes. She didn't want Izaya to cause hell when she was working.

He could tell what she was thinking since he shook his head at her expression. "Don't worry. I'm gonna chat with Simon and perfect my Russian. It'll be for a couple minutes."

She nodded. It wasn't like she could stop him anyway.

The next morning rolled around. At Russia Sushi, Shizuo had gotten to Simon first. They chatted as Arisa and Izaya strolled up.

Hell definitely was coming. Arisa inwardly groaned when flames of fury lit up Shizuo's eyes at spotting them.

Arisa pointed a finger right in Shizuo's face. She was going to avert hell right now. "Down, boy. Nobody fights while I'm making money. Got it?"

Shizuo's eyes crossed until she put down her hand. He glared at Izaya, who simply stood there with a toothy grin.

Shizuo glared for a full minute. A vein in his forehead throbbed.

He harrumphed and glanced at Arisa. "I've got to meet Tom. I'll see you later." Shizuo's moody frown changed to a genial smile for her in the span of a blink before he moved away.

She didn't miss it. Neither did Izaya, whose incredulous gaze followed Shizuo's back. Izaya spoke to Simon in rapid-fire Russian which sounded very much like excited gossiping. Arisa went inside the restaurant to change into her uniform.

When she returned they were still conversing. Izaya saw her donned in the loud dress and hat. He nodded in approval despite not caring about her appearance.

Arisa shook her head to herself. She would never understand him.

As she hefted her stack of flyers for another day of promoting, she heard children's laughter. A group of three familiar little boys were back and again were playing their game of pressurizing cola cans.

Luckily, their cans weren't open yet. Arisa took Shizuo's kind of assertive stance and warned them, "Hey, you guys watch where you're opening those cans!"

They looked at her. One of them -the kid Shizuo particularly yelled harshly at last time- grimaced. "Oh, is that scary man around?"

His friend who held the can gasped. "Ooooh, we better be careful! He almost came after us."

Arisa mischievously grinned. "He just left here, y'know. He should be still nearby."

The first boy grabbed the drink from his friend's grasp. "I'll hold onto this and when that guy isn't around we'll open it then! C'mon!" His gang began running away. "Thanks, lady!"

Izaya smirked. "That doofus Shizu-chan knows how to make an impression."

Arisa swatted his arm. "Hey, that doofus is a good person."

"Whatever." Izaya waved a flippant arm and began walking away. "See you later, cutie."

It was another day in Ikebukuro.

On Shizuo's doorstep, Arisa pressed the button to buzz him. She had a whim to drop in unannounced after her sushi promotions and waitressing for the evening.

The door opened. Shizuo stood there with a preoccupied, but not unpleased look when he recognized her.

When he didn't say anything, Arisa blurted, "Hello. You're busy, right? I knew I should've called."

Shizuo cleared his throat. "Uh, it's fine. Come in. Hi."

He seemed hesitant when Arisa entered, but by the time Shizuo shut the door, almost immediately did he start kissing Arisa.

She felt his excitement and giggled at his enthusiasm. "You sure I'm not interrupting something private?" she managed to say between breaths.

"Just what are you insinuating?" Shizuo chuckled, pulling her closer and nibbling on her earlobe.

"I can't take off my shoes yet and you're so mfmm mphh-" Shizuo sealed her mouth with his again and she chose to happily stay quiet.

One very long greeting smooch later, Shizuo told Arisa to have a seat in the living room while he went into the kitchen.

"Sure." She sat on his couch. The TV's frozen image of a fight was evident of a viewing. The coffee table had a pair of black gloves carelessly tossed across the surface. Magazines and an impressive stack of fighting DVDs decorated the tabletop.

One of them was strangely out of place. A blank case. She picked it up and opened it. A plain disc inside was scrawled in marker with a title: The Irrepressible Tailor.

She beamed. A drama featuring Yuhei Hanejima as the main actor. Arisa didn't know Shizuo was a fan of his. She loved Yuhei's movies! Shizuo's disc was Yuhei's latest film, It was great and doing exceptionally well in theatres now.

Wait, the movie was still in theatres yet Shizuo owned a copy? Odd. She returned the case.

Arisa idly picked up the gloves to examine. Upon holding them, the material felt unnatural. Not the typical leather or spandex. It felt almost liquidy against her skin as Arisa slipped them on.

The gloves were much too large. Their fingers drooped off the tips of her own fingers. Arisa smiled affectionately. Shizuo's hands were man-size, all right.

"Sorry for the wait." Shizuo came over with a glass of water which he set in front of her on the table.

"How did you get Yuhei's movie so early?" was the first thing to come out of Arisa's mouth.

Shizuo chuckled. "You're a big fan of his?"

Arisa nodded emphatically and grabbed his arm. "Tell meeee!"

His laughter grew louder. "You're such a kid. You can't sit still, huh?"

"When I watch Yuhei's films, no. Now, spill it."

Shizuo sat beside her. Nervously, he rubbed the back of his head. "He's, um, my brother."

She couldn't be sure how low her mouth hung open.

"Keep this a secret, 'k?" Shizuo tapped her forehead.

"Yeah. Nobody would believe me, anyway!"

As Arisa let that information sink in her memory with a bounce in her seat, Shizuo saw the sagging fabric of her gloved hands and smiled.

"These feel different than normal gloves. Special order?" Arisa flexed her fist.

"You could say that. Celty's specialty. Can I?" Shizuo made as if to take a glove.

She held out her hand. Shizuo leaned over and snagged the glove's fingertips with his teeth. The glove slipped off and Shizuo fitted it onto his own hand.

"Custom-made. Lucky you."

Shizuo trailed gloved fingers down the side of her face and she leaned into his touch. "If you wanted, Celty could make you a custom little black dress."

"Ooh. I like the idea." Arisa kissed Shizuo and breathed in hard. She pushed him down, their limbs pressing closely. "Or is that you? A nice high slit up the side? Seeing what you might touch?"

A quiet groan hummed from the back of his throat. "You're treading thin ice with that idea." Shizuo's dulcet tones made Arisa melt inside. She closed her eyes and let herself sink into the depths of her bliss.

"Arisa, can I ask something?"

"Yep."

"You'll want to think about it."

Arisa slowly opened her eyes. Shizuo appeared expectant, so she straightened.

"Sure, what is it?"

Shizuo took in a deep breath. "Do you want to stay with me for a while? My place instead of Izaya's."

Arisa's wide eyes stared at Shizuo.

- THE END -