Getaway For Two

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Saki's eyes followed Izaya out of the room. Once again, he'd accomplished exactly what he wanted to accomplish, though this time, Saki saw a bit more benefit in it for the both of them. Of course, Izaya would always make sure that, in terms of benefit, things were in his favor, but that didn't mean that other people couldn't profit as well.

And Saki definitely felt like this would be good for them. It'd been so long since she'd even left the hospital that just the thought of finally leaving, and leaving Ikebukuro and Tokyo all together, was incredibly freeing. She wanted to breathe fresh air, air that wasn't tainted with the stench of disinfectant and commercial-grade cleaners and fresh washed linens. She wanted to actually be in natural light and walk among people that weren't in hospital gowns, nurses uniforms, and doctor's coats.

Above all, she wanted to be with Masaomi. This was just the chance they'd been looking for, their opportunity to finally spend time together; and not just a little bit of time, no, they might be on this little vacation together for weeks, and Saki couldn't think of something that she would like more.

No sooner was Izaya out the door than Masaomi turned to her and insisted upon immediate action, despite Izaya's telling them they could wait until tomorrow morning. After all, Masaomi still wasn't fully healed. He was obviously better, but it would probably be smart to wait one more night before leaving the city… but she didn't blame him for wanting to move as quickly as possible, and she wouldn't argue.

She stood from the chair beside his bed, her legs slowly regaining their strength with each passing hour. She'd spent so long in fake casts, pretending to be crippled, that she'd nearly succumbed to the illusion herself. She probably still couldn't run very well and might not be able to for a long time, but that was fine. All too well, she knew Kida wouldn't mind walking alongside her until she could.

Before she could leave the room though, she watched Masaomi begin to type in a number on the new phone… and then stop, ending the call before it was made. She wondered vaguely who it was he had thought to contact. Perhaps Mikado, the friend he'd told her so much about, or Anri, the girl he claimed to be in a love triangle with. Either way, it seemed as though he couldn't go through with it.

Her hand reached forward, gently resting on Masaomi's shoulder. With a soft squeeze, she gave him a reassuring smile before she finally left the room to go pack her things.

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When Saki had touched him, simply giving him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder, he nearly jumped a foot in the air. He hadn't been expecting that she was still there, and now she was probably thinking he was back to his cheating, even when there was nothing going on.

...was it cheating? He had no idea. Mikado was always his best friend, the first person that Kida would reach out to when everything was going to hell, and he had always suspected that the universe knew that. That was why he was in this hospital in the first place. Mikado had been in danger (in Kida's own mind) and without a second thought he decided to throw his life away to keep him safe. The fact that they won was an altogether different detail.

He returned that smile, hoping she wasn't thinking the worst of him. He had just won her back. Kida got the girl and eliminated himself from the love triangle, getting it so Mikado could make his move on Anri, who in Kida's mind was absolutely Mikado's one true love and their fairy tale was only beginning as his came to a close, preparing for his happily ever after with Saki.

He pushed the call button, preparing his answers to the questions that they will unquestioningly ask, and since he was a minor, he texted Izaya, hoping the man wouldn't be too far away.

Stay in the hospital, I'm gonna need someone to discharge me.

This wouldn't be the first time Izaya had done it for him, and something told him that it would never be the last, but he figured that he might as well try to get Izaya to stay, if he wasn't intending to. He was still under 20, after all, and the hospital wasn't exactly going to be happy if they were releasing Kida into his own custody to take care of himself.

That, and it seemed like everyone at Ikebukuro General was pretty convinced that you don't ask Izaya any question that you may not like the answer to. Last year, Izaya had decided that as far as the hospital was concerned, Kida was his little brother, and no doctor seemed to be willing to argue this with the antagonistic informant.

Kida was pretty sure Izaya had something on the hospital, but he doubted he'd ever get the answer as to what. It didn't really matter, after all, so long as Kida was released to do his job.

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya had just made it down to the front door when his phones buzzed. He flipped it open to see that Kida had sent him a text… ah, yes. Well, Izaya had planned on coming back the following morning to deal with the discharge, but if Kida felt well enough to deal with that now, that was fine with Izaya. He texted him back.

Get ready for now. I have an errand to run, I'll be back in two hours.

The nurses would probably go crazy checking him over, and the teen still needed to pack up whatever they had in the hospital. It would take time that Izaya didn't have. He had a delivery to make, so if Kida wanted to move his plans up like this, he could wait for Izaya. Once Izaya finished with his task, he'd come back to discharge, which should go quite smoothly.

He'd already checked Kida out of the hospital on two separate occasions, both times after fights with the Blue Squares that got a bit too rough. He'd had to fight with the staff the first time around until he'd found a bit of… leverage that had ensured there would be no future arguments.

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Kida checked his new phone and sighed. Given how these nurses were acting, he might need all of that time to just get them convinced that he's ready to be released.

There was a little bit of arguing, but mostly, it was just flirting; all things considered, they probably knew him well enough to keep him here when he wasn't at least attempting to hit on anyone. Saki was alright with just flirting -- something about him just being friendly and affectionate by very nature -- so long as it didn't get any farther, after all.

Finally, he got the go ahead to start getting ready while they waited on his brother to show back up. Kida smiled and, while a little unsteady on his feet, he knew exactly what he needed in his life.

Oh dear sweet baby Jesus, hot water running over his poor tired muscles never felt so good. Mikado and Anri had been nice enough to bring him his gel, shampoo, conditioner, and pomade to the hospital, so he could argue with the lack of hair masque later.

Once out, he leaned against the sink, gelled the back and used the pomade on his bangs. Usually while he showered, his mind was blank, but now that the steam was gone, they were all flooding back to his mind. What was he doing? Izaya had screwed him over on more than one occasion. Izaya probably just ruined his friendship with the one person that Kida thought he could always depend on. Izaya made his girlfriend lie to him in ways that are just plain unforgivable. Izaya was probably the reason he thought it was a good idea to break up with her in the first place. What made Izaya think that he would ever happily do whatever he wanted ever again? That was the kind of guy he was; Izaya built you up and then tore away one little thing at the bottom of your throne and sent you tumbling down.

And now, when Izaya was clearly in trouble and finally needing some help, he wasn't willing to say a word? What the hell?

As stupid as it sounded, Kida was always willing to help anyone that asked it of him. His right hand in the Yellow Scarves, wherever he had gone the first time Kida tried to disappear from the shadows and crawl back into the light, had always criticized this about him. Every time someone said they wanted to join, he had looked them over and bitched about Kida's insistence that was all it truly took to become a member of the Yellow Scarves. If he knew how long it took for him to decide to kill Horada, then Kida was pretty sure he'd roll his eyes and say "you're too nice." That was all he ever tended to say when it came to Kida's decisions.

But how was he supposed to help Izaya when Izaya was not telling him what he was running from, what he needed them to distract so that he could regroup and think of something that would end the trouble once and for all? There was nothing in Kida's mind that Izaya might view as that much of a danger.

And on top of everything else, how did Kida not know Izaya was simply sending Saki and he away just to protect them from whatever is chasing him? There was absolutely no secret that Saki would do anything Izaya asked with no question, and there was no secret that Izaya taking a special interest in him was not a secret and what swayed the war last summer. Whatever was after him might know that Izaya was not exactly nice, and tended to keep the people that valued him as an individual and not just as a tool close, refusing to let them leave his protection under any circumstances.

Overprotective. That was a better word for Izaya than controlling when it came to Saki. By making all her decisions for her, he prevented any tragedy in her life that could cause her to leave him for good. Even now, after she betrayed him, he came back to her, black eye unshielded and the smile on his face that implied his forgiveness.

But Kida had an overprotective streak too, and Izaya was just plain bad for anyone he ever meets. Once you get in his web, the spider will simply smile and keep dragging you back into the shadows, back into his control, and, if you're lucky, back into his web, where he can protect you in the only way he may know how.

Hell, look at Kida. No matter how hard he struggled, how close he got to the light, Izaya simply tugged two strings and suddenly Kida was going under all over again. He struggled some more, managed to grab the hands of his friends, who started to pull him out, and with a simple tug, Kida dragged them under with him.

And now that everything was over, Kida was laying back, feeling helpless, letting himself float wherever the current was willing to take him.

Which led him back into Izaya's web and Saki's waiting arms, the silk wrapping him last time no longer necessary, because the fact of the matter was that Kida needed Izaya in his life or he will cause more danger to the people he cared about, Saki included. He would do what Izaya said without question, as he used to, and simply hope that Izaya would be willing to trust him with the information he needed to do as he asked.

This was going to be an interesting few days. Izaya was needing someone to protect him, is what he was gathering from this, and for once, Kida wasn't going to fight him on this. If Izaya was going to keep him as a favorite puppet, then he'll do his best to make sure his strings aren't severed too soon.

After all...Kida can't just quit Saki. She was like an addiction.

Sighing, he slipped some clothes on -- his pink hoodie? He still had it from this summer? -- and took one more look in the mirror at himself to make sure his hair would dry in the right style before going out again, leaning against the door frame for Izaya and Saki. He had stuff at home he wanted to pack before they went.

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In her room, Saki began to stuff her things into the one small bag she had with her at the hospital. To be honest, her amount of attire was limited. She'd grown since the previous year; not so much height-wise, but in the places that mattered, making most of her wardrobe not fit quite right anyway.

Even still, it wasn't like she'd needed much clothing at the hospital. Underwear she had tons of, but besides that, she'd been wearing the garments the hospital provided her during her stay. She packed what she had, minus the outfit she planned to change into and headed down the hall to drop the bag off in Masaomi's room. Inside, she heard the shower going and decided that sounded like a very good idea.

Heading back into her room and into the bathroom, she disrobed from the hospital clothes for what was probably the last time (for now at least) and stepped into the steaming shower to get ready for the outside world.

Unlike Masaomi, whose head she knew was probably racing with ideas and possibilities, she preferred not to overthink it. Saki didn't consider herself stupid, not by any means… but she wasn't the type to worry herself over what ifs and could bes. For now, she was focused on today. Tomorrow wasn't a promise, not in Izaya's line of work, and thinking too far into the future or too much about the present just seemed silly.

She had the opportunity to run away with Masaomi. She was happy. Maybe someone might call her shortsighted, but at least she wasn't miserable.

When Izaya called in a few days and gave them their official mission, whatever that may be… well, then she would think about it. There was no sense in determinedly focusing on something she didn't have enough information to bother worrying about. Because at this point, the extent of their information was that Izaya was in trouble. But Izaya was usually in trouble, making it all a matter of with who and how much, and since they hadn't been told that, thinking about it felt pointless when there were so much more… promising things to think about.

Besides, Masaomi would think about it enough for the both of them.

She stepped out of the shower after a few minutes and dried off, eying herself in the mirror. As she brushed out her hair, she wondered vaguely if she should go back to bleaching her hair. Maybe she'd ask Masaomi about it.

After that, she dressed; she had a short, pale yellow dress that still fit fairly well and slipped her black button down sweater over it, black flats that would be easy to walk in, and with that, headed back to Masaomi's room. She found him leaning against the doorway, and she smiled as she approached him.

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The wait for Saki was a relatively short one. She strolled through the hall, her bag in hand, and was ready to go just a few minutes after he packed his bag. He offered her a smile, but blinked.

Of course he'd never thought of how much taller Saki had gotten. It was a given that if you see someone often enough, you don't notice changes.
When they wear old clothes, however, you notice their height changes, how the dress stopped fitting the way it used to. Especially if it's on your girlfriend.

Right now, Saki was not exactly filling the dress the way it should have been filled. This...looked like it was trying to get him to come to her and have his way...which he probably shouldn't do. In a hospital. Right. That was not exactly legal, was it?

So, instead, he offered her a grin. "Waiting on Izaya, still. That's...that's not new, right?"

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Her grin widened at the sight of the pink hoodie. She could help but think that Masaomi looked absolutely adorable in it and she had the urge to take him by the hand or by the arm and hold him close, but instead she leaned against the door frame opposite of him, watching him.

One thing Izaya had taught her was to be observant. He'd preached to her how important a skill it was, and after spending a year in the hospital, it had been one of the few things she'd had to fall back on to fill her time. Watching and listening, she'd been slowly learning to be more and more aware of her surroundings… but even without that, she would have noticed the way Masaomi had looked at her. He hadn't been trying to be obvious about it, of course, but she'd noted the way he stared and just what he was staring at.

And she knew the dress didn't fit perfectly, or at least it didn't fit the way it once had. She was a bit taller now (making the dress a bit shorter) and her chest was fuller than a year ago, lightly stretching the fabric of the dress over her bust. It wasn't so bad that it was obscene… but for Masaomi, who hadn't seen her in anything more flattering than the hospitals' clothing in over a year, it was certainly a huge change. She understood why the teen would stare and though she felt a bit flustered by it, it was in a good way. Masaomi looking at her like that made her heart pound excitedly, made pretty pink butterflies flutter around her stomach in the best way possible and made her look forward to just what might happen when they ran away together.

"Not new at all," she replied lightly before her grin turned playful. "Though this time, it may be worth the wait."

[Deleted]

Ah, so he had been correct when he was thinking that he had seen that dress on her before. Well, he was a teenage boy, and teenage boys do tend to pay attention to that, he supposed.

He sighed, grabbing the cell phone that Izaya left. "There's a link here to a colorless gang's...well, their equivalent to the warehouse. I was thinking of joining it, just to keep an eye on things. Would you mind, or....?"

This was definitely something he needed to talk to Saki about before he did it. While she was probably the most emotionally secure person he has ever met, there was nothing that he could really say that would make her okay with the idea of not giving up the life that he was once entangled in without exception. The thing was, though, that it was too late for him to get out, and he hoped that much she could understand. This wasn't going to be easy by any means, but he needed to let her know that she needed to trust him, that he was done keeping secrets.

Maybe then they could finally move on from the past. Together.

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It was only a moment before the smile on Masaomi's face was replaced with a more serious look and he pulled out the cell phone that Izaya had left him with. She peered at it curiously as Masaomi explained what Izaya had done.

But after Masaomi finished speaking sheepishly, Saki could only smile softly at him. How in the world could she mind? Part of her knew the question was mostly a formality, it was Masaomi's way of letting her know what Izaya had done and what he was going to do. He had told her about it because he wanted to keep no more secrets, and it started with this, with Masaomi being honest about desire not to leave this life and these friends behind.

Saki didn't hesitate to accept that. She knew Masaomi better than that, and she knew that even if they were leaving the city, they would return—or at the very least he would. She knew that his life was deeply entangled with both his friends, Mikado Ryuugamine and Anri Sonohara, and she knew nothing she could do would affect that, even if she had wanted to affect it. Masaomi joining the Dollars chat group was his way, and for now, his only way, of staying involved in their lives, and Saki didn't know what sort of monster she would be to even want to deny him that.

"Of course not, go ahead," she assured him calmly. "You should stay in contact with your friends, no matter what."