I blame watching a ShizuoMikado youtube video. And all the awesome ShizuoMikado stories I read here. For letting this idea fall into my head.

On with the story!

Mikado was running early to class by twenty minutes. Someone had posted on the Dollars website that if they didn't cool off for one night, they would tell Heiwajima Shizuo where their boss lived.

And he would personally escort the boss out of Ikebukuro.

So running into Heiwajima-san after a full nights sleep for a change, Mikado didn't know whether to say thank you or demand to know who threatened him.

"Ah, thank you."

It just fell out of his mouth.

"Hn. Even hanging around the flea can't change you completely. Just know that we'll always take you back." Heiwajima-san clapped a hand over Mikado's shoulder.

Wondering what the heck that was about, Mikado rushed off to school.

Across the street, Celty signed success to her partner in crime.

When he arrived, he helped Sonohara-san count out the supplies for distribution and set up the first lesson. When he turned around to check the chalk, Anri-chan gasped.

Mikado spun around. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. But it looks good on you." She smiled at him. Mikado gave her a confused look. "I think you should leave it on." Then she turned back to her work. Mikado patted his back.

It didn't feel like there was something there….

Shrugging, he finished his work.

Aoba had screamed. Actually screamed at whatever was on his back. Then, he had a fit so bad that Mikado had to carry him from the roof to the nurses' office so he could calm down. The nurse asked what had caused the fit, so Mikado obediently turned around.

The nurse nodded her head. "That certainly would induce a panic attack. Poor Kuronumi, he had just moved here too. You can stay if you want to."

Mikado looked at Aoba-kun, who shook his head no. When the nurse and Mikado-sempai had left, he pulled out his cell phone and sent a text.

Orihara-san,

You have to save him.

Aoba-kun

Orihara Izaya flipped open his phone. There was no doubt in his mind who Aoba-kun meant, but save him from what? Frowning, Izaya did not race down the steps after throwing his fur jacket on.

He jumped them.

Mikado left school after cleaning up and checking on Aoba-kun. Celty-san picked up Anri-chan, and after inviting him to dinner, left.

Mikado didn't see the shadow creep up the back of his pants leg onto his back.

Orihara Izaya was looking for the distinct Raira Academy uniform, about Mikado's height at an intersection he knew the boy would take at some point to get home.

There he was. A bit late, but reasonably so.

Izaya moved in closer, wanting to know why a perfectly healthy pawn was in so much danger that Aoba-kun would text him. Certainly Kida-kun hadn't gotten a hold of Mikado-kun?

It was when he was closer to Mikado waiting to cross the street that he saw it.

"SHIIIIZZZUUUUUU-CHAAAAAAANNNN! I'm going to kill you!"

When Mikado-kun whipped around to see why Izaya-kun was screaming (for such a skinny guy, he certainly had a pair of lungs) and a child behind him spoke up in the silence.

"Mommy, why does that boy have a sign on his back saying, 'Property of Heiwajima Shizuo'?"

Mikado paled.

No wonder Anri-chan thought it was cute, everyone else was scared, Aoba-kun had a fit, and Izaya-san was in the middle of pitching one.

The note must have been up between his shoulder blades, and today hadn't been a Physical Education day, so he would never have changed and noticed the note stuck there. If it was out of his reach, in a blind spot, he would never feel it either.

Izaya-san marched over to him as soon as the light turned green to walk. He reached up to rip the sign off.

His hands passed right through the sign. More specifically, the sign turned into smoke and then reshaped itself. Izaya-san growled in his throat.

"Go straight home, Mikado-kun. I have to talk with Shizu-chan."

Then he stormed off into Ikebukuro, texting to find the Fortissimo.

Mikado stood there for a moment. Well, perhaps the posting to escort Mikado out of Ikebukuro had been from Shizuo-san himself? After all, one helps one's property and looks after it.

….maybe after he goes home he'll see about asking Celty about going to dinner at Shinra's apartment.

And if the fate of War was changed by another dyed blonde waiting to eat there as well, well, Izaya and Aoba wouldn't find their emperor missing until school next day.

A/N: That last sentence just snuck in there. Credit to whoever pointed out in a thread that Mikado's soul is a battleground as much as Ikebukuro is. I'm starting to see how Mikado could be fought over by a lot of different people who don't want him to be Izaya's pawn.