It felt like hours had passed, but then again with nothing to do but stare at blank walls and no windows, it was hard to tell. Either way, the boredom was starting to get to the informant and when he was bored his mind wandered and not always to things that he wanted to think about.

Right now he was thinking about the night before; he'd stopped trying to remember how he'd been taken and moved on to thinking about where he was supposed to be, the plans he had made and a feeling bubbled up inside of him that he hadn't felt in quite some time; regret. He'd had a date set up with Shizu- chan and now because of whoever this bastard was he had been forced to miss it. His weird thing with the blonde brute had taken a lot of time to build up and he was certain that the idiot protozoan would believe he'd led him on. That trust he'd managed to build broken.

He felt a sudden ache in his chest. He'd always avoided attachment because then he couldn't be hurt, but Shizuo Heiwajima had been different. He'd always been different. Izaya closed his eyes briefly and decided to move his thoughts back to the problem at hand. He didn't like feeling hurt or thinking about love, it wasn't like him to be so sentimental. He was supposed to be above it all.

"Shizuo!"

Said man groaned; the last person he wanted to talk to was Shinra. "If you're calling me to brag about your relationship with Celty I'm hanging up."

"Wait! As much as I would love to regale you with tales of how cute Celty is, I actually do have a point."

"Get on with it."

"Have you seen or heard from Izaya today."

"Why the fuck would I know about the damn flea."

"Don't insult my intelligence Shizuo, you both make it so obvious. I'm happy with you, the sexual tension was stifling for a long time."

Shizuo wanted to toss his cell phone away, really he shouldn't have even bothered, Shinra was irritatingly observant. He could at least pretend to be shocked.

"Shizuo!"

"What?!"

"Izaya?"

"No, I haven't. Why?"

"We had a meeting planned, he said he had something to ask me for one of his clients. I tried calling but his phone was off. That's weird for him. So I called his second third and fourth number and they all went straight to voicemail. I thought maybe he was having a wild time with you or something. I figured you're the only one he'd turn off his phones for."

Shizuo didn't even know Izaya had that many phones. It irked him a bit that Shinra had all his numbers. Still, the knowledge that Izaya wasn't answering Shinra and that it was about work, something that he knew the flea was very serious about, was almost concerning.

"I tried calling Nami too, but she was about as helpful as you." Shinra sounded oddly concerned, it was a rare occurrence for the usual carefree doctor.

"He said he had a job with Shiki last night."

"I'll call him. Thanks, Shizuo."

Yeah… hey Shinra-"

"I'll let you know." Shinra sing songs hanging up abruptly.

Shizuo stared at his phone feeling sick to his stomach. Izaya had a lot of enemies… he shook his head furiously and lit a cigarette, Izaya wasn't weak by any means he could take care of himself.

Izaya was crushed into the corner of the cage stretching out his legs as much as he could in the cramped space. No one had come to see him yet and he was stewing in irritation. He was really missing the comfort of his home right about now. He wondered if anyone knew he was even missing? It wasn't unusual for Izaya to disappear but normally he let Nami know that he would be out for a few days, surely she would tell someone. And Shinra, he had plans with him. But it was hard to know for sure. Izaya was a hard person to get along with. It was almost depressing to think about how little he'd be missed.

The door creaked open and Izaya sat up, his eyes widened minutely. He recognized his captor and honestly the informant had to say he was a little impressed. Humans were normally so predictable but this tiny Icarus had deviated.

"I brought you some food." The man pushed a container Izaya recognized instantly from Russia Sushi toward his cage. Izaya didn't reach out for it preferring to observe the man in front of him. If he could even call the meek little mouse a man at all.

"Why don't you just let me go, and I'll forget about all of this. No harm no foul." Izaya replied. He had no wish to hurt humanity, he loved humans.

"I can't."

"Why not."

"I'm trying to save you."

Izaya's smirk fell a little and his eyes narrowed. "Oh?"

"I love you, Izaya Orihara." He whispered softly looking into the informant's red tinted eyes. The confession was hardly surprising. He remembered meeting the man before, and he'd been annoyingly persistent. He loved all humans, but none of them were special. There was only one person that he had any special feelings for and he wasn't even a human, just a monster. Still, this guy had obviously gone off the deep end and Izaya realized that it was going to be annoying trying to get through whatever ridiculous delusions this man had of him. And he was really, really not enjoying this cage.

"I have to go to work, but don't worry I'll be back later, we'll talk." Izaya glared at the door for a moment before he shuffled around the cage, his fingers found the padlock and he wished for once that he had Shizu- chan's brute strength. He pulled at it a few times to check for any signs of weakness. Nothing. Damn it. Damn it. DAMN IT! Izaya tried not to panic as he searched along the bars for anything, anything he could use or hold in his hand's something to make himself feel less trapped and more in control.

Guilt. That's all Shizuo could feel was guilt. He'd been so angry the night before, he'd figured the flea had just decided to stand him up to get on his nerves. Now he was sitting on Shinra's couch an empty pack of smokes crushed in his fist. Celty was sitting beside him while Shinra searched the web looking more serious than Shizuo had ever seen him by someone other than the dullahan he was in love with.

"Stop glaring at me Shizuo, this is going to take time. Izaya has a lot of enemies."

"This is going to take too long.. What if he's already…" The blonde couldn't bring himself to say it. It was almost funny considering how much he'd threatened to kill the louse himself. A few months ago and he might actually be celebrating. Now he was actually worried.

"He's not stupid, Izaya is a master manipulator."

I don't like waiting either, but there's not much else we can do. We don't even know where to start looking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Izaya was at his usual table at Russia Sushi. Simon had just served him his absolute favorite dish and he was savoring the deliciousness on his tongue sighing in contentment.

"You really like fatty tuna, don't you?"

Izaya opened his eyes and blinked a few times at the man sitting across from him like he'd been invited to join the informant. He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realize I was going to be entertaining a guest tonight?" His voice was light but vaguely annoyed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude, you just looked so happy."

"Yes, I was." He put emphasis on the word was. Izaya loved his humans he liked observing them, but those were on his terms. He didn't particularly care for them barging in on him. He only put up with that for a few express individuals of whom this man was not. In fact, Izaya couldn't remember ever seeing him before in his life.

"AH! Izaya-kun you have friend?" Simon was carrying his requested drink.

"Yes."

"No.." The brunette glanced at the man who had spoken out at the same time he had. "No." He repeated again. Simon looked a little nervous a slight drop of sweat on his forehead as he looked between the two. Izaya stood up. "Can I get this wrapped up to go please."

"Of course." Simon was smiling again awkwardness forgotten as Izaya stretched his arms up over his head. Once Simon disappeared with Izaya's food the unknown human looked at Izaya. There was a sadness in his eyes though Izaya could really care less. This human didn't even register on his radar. He was nothing to the informant. boring.

"I didn't mean to intrude, maybe another time, when your more open?" Izaya narrowed his eyes seriously did this guy not get it? He leaned forward.

"Not interested."

"I thought you loved all humans."

"Just because I like all humans, doesn't mean I like you personally."

"Your food is ready Izaya!" Simon bellowed out in his usual boisterous voice. Izaya spun around to walk away but turned back briefly looking over his shoulder.

"Besides I have a boyfriend." He smiled.

"No, you don't" The human shot back. Izaya's eyebrow twitched but he simply shrugged his shoulders he was gone before any more could be said. He hated to admit that the human had hit a nerve but his irritation could hardly be denied.