Disclaimer: Durarara! I don't own thee!

Note: This is a side story that takes place after Tsugaru was given a human body in the future timeline. Enjoy!

"Sorry Saika… but I want… I want to grant his wish…"he told the sword. He felt her flare up against his palm, furious with how it had turned out yet helpless to do anything about it.

Tsugaru's eyes moved from the blade to the lifeless girl on the ground. The flow of blood from her wound seemed to have lost most of its momentum, and he realized that she must have nearly bled herself out making her way over here.

The shrine deity slid the sword into his sleeve, and walked over to a patch of exposed dirt to the side of the building. He could feel Saika's confusion against his skin and reassured the sword silently as he began digging with his hands.

Tsugaru looked over his work two hours later, a small trail of blood leading form the entrance of the shrine to the building and a slight rise in the dirt the remaining visible memory of what had happened just a few hours earlier. Saika pulsed next to him, still a little confused at the action but seemingly calmer than before.

"Isn't it normal for humans to bury the dead?" he asked her, earning what he assumed to be a shrug if the sword had a human form.

Tsugaru looked to the gate; the sun was already going down and the sounds of artillery in the background continued to echo through the otherwise quiet shrine. He took a step forward towards the gate apprehensively. Just what was he going to find outside of his shrine in Izaya and Shizuo's world? Tsugaru took a deep breath. He would have to see for himself if he was going to keep his promise.

He grimaced and continued at a steady pace, his resolve strengthened. The shrine deity finally made it to edge of the steps right before the descent and looked out across the world he had never seen before.

The sight made him freeze. Smoke blanketed the city from isolated fires, and outside the protection of his own barrier, the roaring guns sounded deafeningly loud.

One more step took him through the barrier, and the stench of burning death instantly filled his senses. Shizuo had breathed this in for days he realized, and the thought made him nauseous. He brought a sleeve up to nose and conjured a new wall around himself to keep out most of the taint. He took a deep breath of the cleaned air and continued on his way down the stairs with no destination in mind.

His legs carried him as if they had memorized the route. Smoke blanketed nearly every other block and more than once he made out a corpse among the rubble that was once Ikebukuro. He knew it was twisted of him to think of such a thing, but he was thankful that Izaya had not lived to see what had happened to the world.

If the guilt of killing the one named Shinra caused him to end his life, then Tsugaru didn't want to think about how the one he couldn't save would've felt towards all of this destruction.

His feet stopped in front of a large rust-colored stain on the pavement.

"This is…" He bent down slowly and touched the edge of the stain with his fingertips before realizing that it was dried blood. There must be some significance to this spot, seeing how Shizuo's body had unconsciously lead him here. He looked around, seeing the shattered glass windows around him and a smashed bus on the sidewalk opposite him.

The stench suddenly returned, the smell of rotten flesh filled his nostrils, and he sank to his knees. He was certain that he had not let the barrier down, but then the realization hit him. His barrier was still intact.

This was a memory.

"Iza… ya?"

A flashback of Shizuo's thoughts flooded in.

He was here again amid the burning city. He leaned idly against the wall, staring down the familiar scene that had already implanted itself into his memories.

"Why am I here?" he grumbled to himself. He sighed and sat down next to the informant. It was starting to smell really bad, really, but these days, there wasn't a single corner of the city that didn't reek of death.

"Hey flea, get up already," he told the corpse. This was a dream he tried to tell himself. Izaya probably knocked him out with some weird medicine, and he was getting all delusional in some dark alley in Ikebukuro. He needed to wake up so he could beat the flea up.

"Izaya wake up," the voice came out weakly this time.

(The air shifted slightly)

"Here again…" he sighed. "Damn it… Am I going crazy? He's dead. Izaya's dead…"

The sound of artillery in the background reminded him of the situation around him. Day in and day out he heard their screams, and all he could do was run. He knew he didn't stand a chance against them, and he wasn't planning on fighting anyone. He had lost the will to since that day. He almost kicked the flea's corpse. "Why'd you have to do something like this? You piece of shit! You…" he fell to his knees next to the motionless flea. "Why?"

(The air shifted again)

"Shizuo!" It was Tom. "Why are you here? Come on! We have to go underground."

"There's no point…" he said, staring at the corpse.

"Look, I know you feel guilty about not catching him, but…"

"Like hell! It's his fault! He probably planned to jump in front of me!"

Tom was beginning to look more and more panicked, but he chose to ignore it. Who wasn't panicking in this forsaken city? His employer and long time friend grabbed his sleeve. "Let's go. It's not safe here."

"Nowhere is safe," he retorted.

"Shizuo, listen to…" Tom stopped cold, lifting his eyes in surprise. "Shinra? You're alive!" His employer abandoned him and ran towards the newcomer.

He remembered… the blood… the doctor's dead eyes. He had seen it himself the very day the informant jumped. He finally moved. "Wait! Tom! That's not…"

But it was too late…

A scythe… a girl dressed in Shinra's coat…

(The air shifted one last time)

He came to slowly, and he felt a strange throb that he was not accustomed to before realizing it was the sensation of pain. He looked down at his arm, finding it soaked in blood. He blinked several times to confirm that he was still dreaming, no, that he was still stuck in this hellish nightmare.

"Just my arm huh…" he muttered, looking around for Tom. His friend lay in a heap a few meters away, motionless, cold… He looked towards Izaya.

The informant was gone.

He was walking, nearly limping…

Where should he go?

The shrine…

The shrine…

Tsugaru heard an unearthly scream behind him and lashed out, tears welling in his eyes. Saika impaled the Dullahan cleanly, screeching with just as much bloodlust as the shrine deity felt.

He panted, shivering from the wave of memories that had ceased. "Shizuo?" he asked after a while.

It was quiet. The blood stain on the pavement, the motionless Dullahan he had just killed… they were all quiet…

.

New Year's Day passed without any visitors, no ringing of the bell, nothing. It was all quiet at the shrine where the Dullahans couldn't reach.

'What do I do now?'

He felt helpless, useless. All those declarations he had made to Shizuo… even with a body, there was no way he could accomplish them.

He buried his face in the folds of his kimono, breathing in the cold winter air through the cloth.

The snow melted away into spring, and the sakura trees on the shrine grounds painted the ground and sometimes the sky pink when the winds got strong enough. The smoke in the distance only grew with them, and he had ceased wandering outside of the grounds after that day. He no longer felt a need to after seeing that blood stain on the pavement, most likely the last he will ever see of Izaya, the one he couldn't save.

He wondered if he would waste away like this, without anyone to ever pay him a visit again. He recognized the emotion as loneliness, something he had felt when he was still part of the shrine, something he had been cured of once before when he got his current name.

The outside world still trembled with destruction, but here in the shrine, it was quiet, peaceful, and empty.

"Izaya," he whispered to the wind. No, it was not peaceful. The frustration in his heart would give him no rest. Tsugaru sighed. He still had no idea where to begin.

He heard rustling unusually close to the shrine and what sounded like one of the Dullahan's scythes cutting through the ground.

"No! Get away! Get away!" a voice yelled out, a human voice.

Tsugaru perked up in disbelief, springing to his feet, Saika pulsing at his side.

'Someone's alive?' He ran lightly across the pebbled grounds, reaching the gate just as a white bundle of fur starting making its way up the steps, followed by a headless shadow wielding a scythe. Tsugaru noticed for a split second that in the shadow's other arm rested a head with beautiful female features, ethereal almost if not for the bloodlust that lined her partially opened mouth and bulging eyes.

"Ah!" the bundle of fur yelled when it suddenly tripped, and the Dullahan took the opportunity to bring down the scythe dangerously close to his neck.

"Worthless…" she hissed, seeming not to notice Tsugaru right in front of them. He attributed it to his barrier. "What use are you when you can't even remember what you've done?"

"Someone…" the one under her whimpered, and Tsugaru blinked.

'I… know that face…' The scythe rose a little before coming back down for the kill, and before he could ponder another second, Saika impaled the Dullahan. The woman opened her mouth in a silent scream before falling to the ground, eyes blank, blood pooling from her shadowy body.

"Kill, kill, kill them all," he heard Saika's faint hiss. The sword nearly burned in his hand, her hatred for the race that had destroyed her beloved seething through the hilt.

"Are you okay?" he asked the other, who nodded shakily. He found himself staring into a pair of wide pink eyes.

'It's not him…'

"Come with me. It's safer in the shrine grounds," he told the stranger, as he held out a hand. The child-like creature took it and followed him silently up the stairs. The barrier allowed him through and seconds later, they were on the familiar pebble. The human let out a sigh of relief before giving Tsugaru a huge smile.

"Thank you!" he nearly squeaked in excitement. "I thought I was done for!"

"What is your name?" Tsugaru asked him, a little taken aback by Izaya's face being so cheerful.

"My name is Psyche!" he answered before pronouncing his name again slowly. "Psyche."

"Psyche," Tsugaru repeated slowly. He wondered if this strange being was related to Izaya in any way; after all, they practically look like twins save for the eyes and the child-like aura Psyche seemed to unconsciously emit. He decided he would allow himself to hope. He had seen far too little of it since he came to be. "Do you happen to know someone by the name of Izaya?"

Psyche's eyes lit up. "Of course! Father created me from Izaya's essence after all," he replied naturally.

Tsugaru blinked at him for a split second. "His essense?"

"Yup!"

"Then the body…" he muttered under his breath.

"Dad said that I need to get back Izaya's memories so we can find out where Saika is," Psyche continued, fiddling with his thumbs as he looked to the floor like he was guilty of some wrongdoing.

"Saika?" He felt the sword flare up, warning him not to say anything about her. He mentally reassured her. He still wasn't sure if this being was hostile or not, although he could sense nothing of the sort from Psyche. "Why do you need to find out where Saika is?"

Psyche shrugged. "I don't know. Father never tells me anything."

"Hm…" Tsugaru motioned for him to follow, and Psyche skipped lightly behind him as they made their way across the shrine grounds to the main building.

"Are you the only one here, Tsugaru?"

Tsugaru stopped in his tracks, only to have Psyche crash into him. The latter fell onto the rocks with a soft thump and rubbed his nose where he had collided with the other's spine. Tsugaru turned around to face the other. "How do you know my name?"

"Huh?" Psyche scratched his head. "I guess I just suddenly thought of it all of a sudden." Tsugaru helped him to his feet and he brushed his fluffy white clothes off before he noticed a bruise on his wrist from when he fell earlier on the stairs. "Oh," he poked it. "Ow!"

Tsugaru sighed. "Here, show that to me." Psyche held out his wrist for the other to see. The shrine deity studied it for a moment before bringing his hand over the bruise. A soft blue light flickered from his palm, and Psyche suddenly felt very warm and fuzzy inside. The other pulled away, and Psyche twisted his wrist experimentally, amazed. The bruise was gone.

"Wow, how'd you do that?"

"I don't know," Tsugaru answered, suddenly realizing how little effort that had taken. If he only had the ability before, then he could've done so much more; he could've saved both of them. He gritted his teeth, remembering the wound on Shizuo's arm. 'If only…' The possibilities ran through his head faster than he could stop the flow, and the despair he had been feeling prior came back a thousand-fold.

"Hey, are you okay?" a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh?" He realized his fists were clenched and relaxed them, taking in a deep breath. "Yes, forgive me. I got lost in my thoughts."

"They must be scary thoughts," Psyche concluded. A frown had replaced the child's continuous grin, and Tsugaru felt himself regretting for making the other worry.

"I'm fine," he reassured Psyche.

They finally made it to the main building and sat on the wooden steps to continue their conversation.

"Who created you, Psyche?" Tsugaru inquired. He figured that it must have been a Dullahan. He couldn't fathom humans having such knowledge.

"Shinra did! He's super smart," Psyche answered.

"Shinra?" Tsugaru thought for a moment. He swore that he'd heard that name somewhere before. The syllables rolled easily off his tongue as if he had spoken them a million times before. "Shinra," he repeated.

"Yup!" Psyche continued, unaware of the the other's conflicting expression. "He's a scientist who's going to save the world! Oh, and I've been meaning to ask…" Tsugaru looked up at him. "Why aren't there any Dullahans up here? I've never seen a place so quiet before in the city. Oh! Not that I've been to many places… I was only born a few months ago."

"My barrier keeps out all supernatural entities," Tsugaru explained to him before realizing the falseness of that statement as he looked at his sleeve. 'How did you get through?' he asked Saika, who merely gave him a disgruntled shrug. He wondered if the girl had anything to do with it; of course the barrier would have not worked on her.

"Oh! So I can bring my father here then!" Psyche seemed excited. "He's always holed up in the laboratory," he added, looking at his feet.

"I'm surprised he let you go out all by yourself." Tsugaru didn't quite understand what was going on. If what Psyche was saying were true, then this "Shinra" person must be a human.

He remembered… the blood… the doctor's dead eyes. He had seen it himself the very day the informant jumped.

Tsugaru wondered why that part of Shizuo's memory had came to mind, but then it hit him. He suddenly heard Izaya's voice, that last time he had seen the other alive.

"It's my fault! I killed him… I killed him… What am I going to do? Shinra… I'm so sorry… Shinra…"

"Oh! I uh…" Psyche's nervous laughter tore him away from his painful thoughts.

"You snuck out," Tsugaru concluded.

"Yes!" he admitted.

"How were you planning to return?"

"By walking?"

Tsugaru sighed. He may look exactly like Izaya, but this child was nothing like the one who had came to him for help. Yet, he couldn't let him go back on his own like this. It was far too dangerous. And, he wanted to meet this "human" called Shinra.

"I'll walk with you."

Psyche's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Tsugaru nodded.

Sorry I'm so caught up in RL T.T! I'll try to work on Buried Beneath the Cherry Tree again sometime in the next few months. For Tsugaru's story here in Midnight Snow, I'm thinking maybe an additional 1-3 chapters after this.

As always, thanks for reading!