Daddy's Little Girl

[tossingtrashcans]

Shizuo growled then dropped the machine a little. Hearing the guy yell as he watched him nod rather quickly. He nodded then moved back and was just about to put the vending machine down then someone was suddenly on his back.

He inhaled something then stopped breathing. He heaved the machine up and tossed it before he reached behind his back grabbed the guy then flipped him over and made him land with his back on the other guy's stomach.

Shizuo stepped back and couched as she tried to focus, gasping for air. He looked up and tilted his head to the side. It almost... nah. He walked over and shoved the guy that had leached onto his back off the other guy then helped him up. He was handed the money in a hurry before the other guy left. Shizuo pocketed the cash then headed down the alley, the other man forgotten.

[Deleted]

If it wasn't for the fact that Kida had gotten a text from Haruna saying that a new development had come up in his current case for Izaya, he could be in Shibuya sharing ice cream with Saki on a little mini vacation where nothing mattered but them. But nooo, Haruna had to text him and tell him that Jinnai was somewhere in Ikebukuro, and as one of the co-leaders of Izaya's mini task force against the enemy information broker, he didn't feel comfortable letting Saki handle it and told her he'd go alone, but not unarmed. At her request, Kida had even left his yellow scarf hanging over the couch, forgotten, and even changed into a green hoodie that he normally wouldn't get caught dead wearing while his favorite hoodie was an option. However, discretion was the better part of valor, and he could, would, and was going to get the jump on the psychopath that thinks it's perfectly fine to go around stabbing people in the stomach.

He had been passing through the park earlier, stepping over a bum in the middle of the sidewalk that stank like death, but he didn't really have time to look him over.

In the evening, after Jinnai had once again made sure his trail was buried by a million and one lies and turns, Kida sighed and was on his cell phone with Saki, trying to figure out how in the world he was going to tell Izaya that he managed to somehow fail again to get the information that he wanted.

"I'm sure he won't be mad. Izaya-san can't keep up with him either."

Kida ground his teeth. "I know, it's just..." He turned his head when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye, and saw Shizuo threatening another client. Smiling, he leaned against the lamp post and watched. Any information on Shizuo seemed to be more than graciously welcomed by the informant. "I don't know. Maybe it's time we disappeared for real before we get ourselves in over our heads."

That was about when he saw it. Someone jumped on top Shizuo's back, covering the older blond's mouth and nose with a rag. "What the...?"

Before he could even take a step forward to try to give him backup, the assailant was on the ground, the debtor was running off, and Kida was speechless. "Someone just tried to chloroform...What?"

He got closer to the man, blinking as the foul-smelling man tried catching his breath. Kida tilted his head. "Let me call you back." He hung up and took a quick picture with his phone's camera. He'd seen this guy before, he knew this, but he didn't know where.

Oh. Right. that smell...it was the hobo from before. He was attacking Shizuo? That was more than funny, but Kida knew better than to laugh. He turned away, pretending to be focusing on getting an iced coffee from the nearby vending machine, thankful it wasn't damaged.

He'd be sure to follow this guy from a safe distance.

[unicornhunter]

Erika hung up, a grin on her face. She and Walker agreed on a time and day for their date - Korean barbeque uptown! - and Walker mentioned something about a surprise. Walker spoiled her so much. She'd have to spoil him some too. Hmmmm, what was that manga he really, really liked that she wasn't all that into again? Erika had a bad habit of not really remembering titles that she didn't particularly care for....

She frowned as her worries cropped back up in the back of her head.

Should she call Izaya and see if her father had managed to hunt down Shizuo and get his just desserts yet? Would he even have heard of anything just yet? She really wasn't sure.... He did a good job of hiding it, but Erika could tell that the subject bothered him as much as it bothered her.... And that . . . was interesting.

Why would Izaya Orihara be so bothered by it? That worked in her favor, yes, but . . . one would think he wouldn't be the kind of person who would care much about that kind of thing.... Hell, Erika had met people over the years who one would be very shocked that they could stomach - and even tolerate - such topics and behavior....

She stared at her phone, trying to figure out what she should do.

*****

Mamoru saw stars, and the world was spinning. He was vaguely aware that Shizuo Heiwajima was no longer there, but he was just a tab bit too disoriented to fully acknowledge the fact.

Once he got himself together, he growled and straightened up. "Heiwajimaaaaaaaa...." He couldn't be human. That had been plenty of chloroform. That should've knocked him out.... Was he a baby elephant in disguise? Was he an alien? Was he a monster? A demon? What was Shizuo Heiwajima? "I'll get you - I'll get you, Shizuo Heiwajima!"

[Deleted]

Kida watched from a safe distance, sipping his iced coffee and watching, carefully, waiting for his facial recognition app to get the hell to work. The man was muttering insanely about getting Heiwajima, and Kida somehow just knew that he'd end up being contracted to do the cleanup and be sure Shizuo never knew that he's mortally injured somebody. It sounded like the kind of assignment he'd be given. But it was definite enough to get Izaya to forget all about his failure with Jinnai.

He casually looked down at his cell as he connected to the net to see the results of his search, and blinked once. Twice.

Karisawa Mamoru? Karisawa like Karisawa-san? Was it possible that...? She looked nothing like him, staring at the camera in his mugshot with wide, wild eyes that weren't too different from the ones that darted around on their attempt to find Shizuo.

He exited the app and sent a text to Izaya.

Gonna be late on my report tonight. There's a psycho chasing Shizuo and I wanna watch.

[UndergroundGod]

Time seemed to pass in a haze. Izaya was on autopilot, and he couldn't even be sure exactly what he was doing, other than knowing that he was just going through the motions. He checked emails, phone messages, talked to people, but he didn't really register any of it. None of it logged or took up room in his brain (though luckily, he was good about keeping things up to date in his datebook, so when he came out of his fog, he would still know what was going on).

The rest of the day moved forward slowly, he sleep fitfully, as usual, and woke up in the same distracted frame of mind.

It seemed like he wouldn't have any peace until he was finally sure that Mamoru was disposed of.

After another day of information dealing from his office, he was on his way out the door when his phone buzzed in his pocket, signaling that he'd gotten a text message. He pulled the phone from his pocket and saw that it was from Kida…

His first thought was that he had some update about Jinnai. That's the mission he had Kida on at the moment. It was always a latent mission of course, that Kida's eyes and ear be open for any news concerning the mysterious man, but for now, it was the only mission that Izaya had him on, so obviously, that's what Izaya expected the text to be about. Though to be honest, Izaya wasn't sure if he could handle dealing with more than one violent psychopath at a time.

The message, however, offered no such news, and actually made him a bit more alert. A psycho chasing Shizuo… that could only mean one thing. Mamoru was almost definitely attacking Shizuo, and Kida was on his trail.

Izaya wasn't sure whether to feel nervous or relieved, but he knew he needed to send a text back.

If it's an incredibly smelly guy, he's dangerous, so keep an eye on him and keep your distance. Let me know when Shizu-chan takes care of him.

If Mamoru looked at Kida the right way, he could probably mistake him for a girl (and a cute one at that), and the last thing Izaya needed was one less informant working for him.

[Deleted]

The text was enough to let Kida know that Izaya, for one, was well aware as to what was going on. That, at least, was a good sign, and Kida pocketed his phone after sending Saki a text to let him know that he was going to be a little late getting home tonight, since something like this had come up.

He sipped his coffee, keeping himself several meters away, just in case he decided to look over his shoulder and maybe notice that he was being followed. At this point, his hood was up and over his head, hoping to provide some sort of blockage of his bleach-blond hair that also tended to be a dead giveaway in certain cases.

Saki and he briefly discussed him dying it back to brown if they ever decided that it was time to leave and never be found again, but the idea was quickly dismissed. He liked being a blond. People seemed a little bit afraid of him that way.

Still, he was going to buy himself time with it, moving his hoodie up and down at specific intervals and keeping his distance. The warning to be careful, given its context, had been Izaya's way of keeping an eye on the two and making sure Shizuo wasn't in over his head.

Someday, he was just going to tell his boss to just go and corner Shizuo in a hotel room. This, however, might not be met with as much amusement from the informant as it would be from the informant's beautiful secretary.

[unicornhunter]

Erika decided that she would text Izaya to find out if he knew anything. He'd either text her when he felt like it or when he had information on it. So she put the message into her phone and sent the text.

Have you heard anything about Shizuo and you-know-who?

She wasn't going to risk anyone getting her phone or Izaya's phone and find out that she was the Baby Doll Murderer's daughter. Even saying "Shizuo and Dad" was too risky. She put the phone back into her pocket and went about making herself some lunch. She hadn't really had breakfast, so it was about time that she ate something.

****

The next few encounters with Shizuo went more or less the same:
Attack.
Have moment of success.
Get thrown off.
Land on ground.
Be immobile for a while.
Repeat.

Except the more often he tried it, the more irritated Shizuo got, and the more violent he became. However, the more violent he became, the more determined Mamoru became.

But he was getting tired. He wasn't really sure how much longer he could continue to do this. At some point, he was fairly sure Shizuo broke one of his ribs.

So the last time - for that day at least - that Shizuo threw him off of him, Mamoru lay there, several feet from where he had started his umpteenth assault that day, breathing heavily.

"Erika. . . . Daddy's working on it, sweetie. Don't you worry. . . ."

[Deleted]

How was he supposed to take this guy seriously with Shizuo thrashing him so thoroughly? It was like watching those old cartoons where the villain is supposed to be super scary and powerful and a side character beat them up every time.

He wasn't about to let his guard down though. To be honest, he had no idea how long Izaya wanted him to watch Shizuo for him. He imagined that given who it was, Izaya would be more than happy to tell him to come back once he was satisfied.

So, he kept sending him texts, keeping him updated on Shizuo's growing anger until the obvious "don't come into Ikebukuro" was sent.

That's when he heard the man mutter his friend's name. Every part of Kida's body tensed and before he realized it, the toe of his shoe had swiftly landed against the rib Kida was pretty sure had been broken. He didn't know what this guy wanted with Erika, but he decided that fuck Shizuo, Shizuo could take care of himself. Erika, however, needed more guarding.

He wasn't stupid enough to go towards her place, no, he headed back toward Shizuo's, cell phone pressed to his ear, hoping Izaya can pick up the phone for once in his miserable life and tell him just what, exactly, was going on.

[unicornhunter]

Mamoru lay there just a bit longer before he felt a super sharp pain in his side. He screamed out in pain and grabbed it. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!

He breathed hard, his vision blurred for a few moments. His eyes were all over the place, trying to find the person who had kicked him. They were going to pay pay pay pay pay pay pay pay pay pay pay pay pay!

Then he saw her - a young lady with blond hair wearing a green hoodie. Talking on her cell phone. Fury burned in him as he connected the dots from "kicked in ribs" to this young woman, but a sense of excitement came over him. Yes, she would be a great way to rebuild his confidence, that she would be.

So through the pain, he got up, forced himself to move as quickly as he could - which only resulted in him falling over, but close enough to grab onto her leg and wrench it out from under her. He pulled her down enough so that he could grab at the seat of her pants -

Wait. How old would Erika be now? How tall would she be? Would she have dyed her hair? Would she wear boyish clothes like these? He wondered.... But Erika wouldn't have kicked him, oh no, she was a good girl, but it's always possible that she didn't recognize him, he presumed, so perhaps it could be her could be her could be her could be her could be Erika Erika Erika Erika Erika Erika Erika

"Erikaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

[Deleted]

Topaz eyes focused on the insane, wide eyes while this freak tried to pull him closer. Aw, hell.

The air knocked out of him quickly and soundly, a thud and the skin on the heels of his hands looking like he landed on concrete. He was pretty sure that he heard the faint sound of denim ripping from the abuse somewhere near the tops of his thighs, and his phone was a good four feet away from him, still ringing. If Izaya picked up soon enough, then he could trace the call.

He just needed to put up a decent enough fight to make it that far.

But from a sitting position, Kida wasn't quite sure what all he could do, slamming his elbow back in hopes of sending this psycho back into pain enough to get him some room to actually move into a less prone position.

Has Izaya answered the phone yet? He had no clue.

"My name isn't Erika, let go of me, you creep!"

[unicornhunter]

Wait....

The vocal register of this person didn't compute properly for several moments.

It was much too deep to be a girl's voice.

Mamoru reached a hand around to check.

Yep, this was a boy. Definitely not Erika.

Why was this boy keeping him from getting revenge on Shizuo Heiwajima for keeping his daughter away from him!? No one got away with that, no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one no one!

He let go of Kida's leg just long enough to get out his knife and dig it into his calf.

"No one keeps my daughter away from me! Not you, not the police, and definitely not her boyfriend Shizuo Heiwajima!"

The knife dug deeper into Kida's leg, the blood seeping into Mamoru's own clothes.

[Deleted]

Here is little known fact: Stabbing hurt like hell.

The cool steel felt like dry ice inside his muscle, which now burned like fire, and, okay, yes, of course, he screamed like a bitch. He wasn't exactly thinking clearly; he knew the police wouldn't help him, but at the very least he hoped he could wake somebody up so they will yell out their window to keep it down, or someone will get morbidly curious about that sound they just heard down the road.

He would almost let the fact that a not-at-all-handsome guy just grabbed him in places he has told associates that anything touching there "they aren't getting back" go because of the searing pain.

"Fucking shit...that hurts you damn bastard!" Kida shifted so that his good leg could go around and kick this guy. Kida was flexible, thankfully, he always had been (if Mikado wasn't athletically inclined, he by law of foils had to be -- who else was going to kick the ass of any bully that thought Mikado was weaker than they were?) and this was a decently easy feat.

"And like hell I'd let Karisawa-san get near you! Don't you think she's way out of your league? Oh, and by the way, she and Shizuo's thing is mostly the point of her using Shizuo in her weird fantasies with some other guy. They aren't dating, you know!"

[unicornhunter]

There were two thoughts that fought for dominance in Mamoru's head.

This boy knew Erika.

Izaya had lied to him.

This boy knew Erika.

Why would Izaya lie about Erika if he didn't know her? Simple. He wouldn't.

This boy knew Erika.

Izaya Orihara lied about who Erika's boyfriend was.

How did this boy know Erika?

Izaya Orihara purposefully put him on the wrong track. Why? Why? Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why?

Mamoru twisted the knife in Kida's leg, in retaliation for Kida kicking him.

"Orihara."

Mamoru said the name with a strange calmness to it. One would think that he and Kida were having an everyday conversation over a cup of tea.

"Does Izaya Orihara have a family?"

This. Was. War.

[Deleted]

Betraying Izaya was one thing. There was no shame in hurting Izaya, because he knew that Izaya had backup after backup after backup.

On the other hand, it was a whole other story about his family. The only family Kida was aware of had been his twin little sisters, who have done nothing to deserve having a creep like this involved in their lives, in any way, shape or form. Besides, the twins were female, and Kida had this thing about giving girls involved in the men in their lives' messes.

So, as Kida hissed in pain and he felt every muscle in his body tense at the feeling of the knife twisting, he tried thinking fast. Who could get away with being called family of Izaya...?

Fuck, he couldn't think of anyone off hand, so Kida shook his head. Why would any sane man get in a business like this if they had family to worry about, after all? That made no sense, so hopefully this would work. His mind raced for...

"I can tell you that Karisawa-san's dating a guy named Simon who is working at the sushi place on Sunset Avenue..." That would work. Simon was very protective of his regulars, and he barely spoke a lick of Japanese.

He also could stop one of Shizuo's punches, and if Izaya was right, had no qualms about making his pacifism technical. Yes, this would work. "Don't know his last name..."

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya spent the next few hours trying to remain distracted. He set his phone on his desk, alert for any updates it might deliver. He supposed it was a good thing that Kia was on Mamoru's trail. It meant Izaya could at least some insight other than hearsay as to what was happening between the two. And surely, if Shizuo finished Mamoru off for him, Kida would be sure to tell him.

If Shizuo finished Mamoru off for him, Izaya would be sending him a huge gift basket of some sort, probably full of chocolates and cakes and every other candy that Izaya could think of. Shizuo would have earned it.

As long as Kida kept a safe distance between himself and Mamoru, he should be fine. Izaya had eventually shared his tip and tricks on following someone with Kida, so the boy knew what to do… Izaya had to hope that Kida would keep that in mind. He didn't want to think about what might happen is Kida got to close, if Mamoru noticed him…

Izaya wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was worried about Kida. He was thankful, at least, that the boy sent him periodic texts throughout the evening, letting him know that Shizuo was getting more and more frustrated as the night wore on.

His phone buzzed once again and Izaya grabbed it, but it was just a text from Erika, asking for any updates he might have. Honestly, he didn't have much to give her, but he wanted her to at least know that he had Kida on his trail and that the man was unsuccessfully attacking Shizuo over and over.

He got halfway through composing the text when he got an incoming call from Kida. Though he was known for often ignoring the boy's calls, that wasn't now, when he knew the boy was tailing a deranged psychopath. He saved the text and quickly answered the phone.

At first, all he heard was background noise static and muffled voices, as if the phone was feet away from whoever was speaking. Then…

AHHHHHHHHHH.

The scream practically made Izaya jump out of his skin, his eyes suddenly wide, his heart racing and trying to claw its way up his throat with the sudden panic that had gripped him.

"DAMN IT, Kida," he shouted in frustration, resisting the urge to slame his fists down on his desk--he'd TOLD the boy to keep his distance and now... Without hesitation, Izaya jumped to one of his many secret programs, one that he had tracing cell phones signals of his allies and enemies throughout the city. He quickly found the little flashing signal that was Kida's cellphone as he heard the boy cursing loudly over the line, though he couldn't make out anything else being said.

Kida was, at best, twenty minutes from him. Even if Izaya ran as fast as he could, he surely wouldn't make it in time to be of any help. He began sweeping the board for the signals close to Kida, and the closest possible one…

Mikado. The boy's cellphone was being picked up about six blocks from where Kida currently was, a one minute run even for the boy who wasn't in the most athletic of states.

His fingers flew over the keys of his cell phone as he sent the urgent message to Mikado, hoping that the boy would respond and take him seriously.

Kida's in danger, being attacked by psycho @ 30th and Umber. Go quickly. Come armed.

Meanwhile, he stayed on the line with Kida, straining to hear anything he could, if for no other reason than it meant that as long as Kida was still talking, he was still alive.