I am so sorry. It's been a long time; it's been rather busy. Family issues, Stats projects, Geography projects, IT submissions...

Anyhow, please do read and enjoy! (And, if possible, review too? X3) Many thanks to my beta reader, .Usagi.

列成す卒塔婆の群れが歌う

「ソ\コ行ク御嬢サン踊リマショ」

Izaya ran his tongue over his teeth, savouring the heady tang of blood. Oh, it made him swoon!

So…delectable.

(Oh, how he loved the thrilling taste of fear, the pungent stench of flesh! How it excited him, made his heart beat so!)

How long had it been since he last licked blood off his lips? Too long, indeed. (Too long since he had last torn a human apart from the inside out, too long since he had last risen from a good meal, too long since he had last savoured the blood and the tears, dripping, trailing, from his blood-stained mouth.) He had almost forgotten that beautiful, nuanced flavour.

It all came back to him now. Oh, the ecstasy! This wonderful, terrible blood that smouldered in his mouth and slithered down his throat! Now he remembered why he used to thirst for it so.

And yet… There was something. Something bitter, there in the back of his throat. Something twisted, something raging, something baying for blood… (Something beautiful, something tempestuous, something crying for love…)

Anger. Fiery, burning, anger.

It was anger, wasn't it? He was so sure it was anger. (Or maybe – passion. For love and hate are so closely bound together, are they not, my pretty fools?)

How petty, how stupid of him. What for? He had blood, he had victims, he had all the props he needed to perform that one last vanishing trick of their miserable, worthless, little lives. Why bother with that one silly little boy who knew not fear?

Oh. Oh, yes.

That's why, wasn't it? That's why he kissed that foolish (broken) little boy (toy), bit his lip and broke his heart. Not for the boy, but for his brother.

For Izaya wanted to see, wanted to watch, wanted to know what he would do, what he would feel, what would make him shatter into thousands of little gleaming shards. (Izaya always liked the spirited toys best. They were so much fun to break; why would he ever bother with anything else?)

He wanted to see those disgusting eyes fill with tears, those disgusting lips tear open in vain, that disgusting soul crushed and ruined and broken, never to see the light of day again.

He wanted a living, dying, shell, straddling the twilight gloom. He would settle with nothing less; not for this one. This one who had such fire in his eyes; such a will to live, such a wish to protect (to devour).

(For he would always consume the ones he wished to protect – such is the fate of the strong; to prey upon the weak and rise dripping with their blood.)

How delightful it would be to break this boy, to smash-shatter-crush his dreams; to watch him writhe in the dust from whence he came. That would be such a fitting punishment for the boy who knew not fear (and the boy who knew not love). Punishment before crime, hatred before love; he would teach this silly little boy to fear him. It was a lesson they all had to learn, someday (and Izaya was only teaching it to the little prodigal sooner rather than later – for God was not as forgive as the Devil, and once you fell, you never got up.)

There was no doubt that Izaya would break the boy, like all those foolish puppets before him. Izaya would string him up and make him dance; play the tune and manipulate his movements. (And then he would cut the strings, watching as the boy shuddered and jerked and quivered, and laughing all the while.) Izaya knew humans, after all; knew them like he knew himself.

(But…truly, he knew nothing about himself, and nothing about humans. For love and loss had not yet stolen away his putrid heart, and those are what makes humans human, after all.)

Once again, thank you very much for waiting for me; and please do review!

Oh, and a little question: What do you think I should name these chapters? I just don't think Chapter 1, Chapter 2 etc. fits the bill...