I'll just warn you all now that I know nothing about light novel canon, so if I get things wrong, I'm terribly sorry. I researched as much as I could but I couldn't get all the answers. I hope you still enjoy the story though...:'D. Partly influenced by an old kink meme request that I shall reveal later.

For the first time in a long time since he could remember, Yadogiri Jinnai was cornered.

It all had happened so quickly that his brain barely had enough time to digest all the chaos thrown at him. He had originally thought he was safe from harm, since he constantly changed his appearance and voice, but when painfully familiar men began tailing him in the streets of Ikebukuro, he realized with furious horror that he had been discovered. Before he could even plan out an escape attempt, he was immediately surrounded by the same assassins he had worked with.

"Yadogiri!" a voice sang out, drawing out each syllable. Yadogiri stiffened at the sickeningly cheery voice, its merriment a poor disguise for the vehemence running underneath. His back was pressed against the brick wall; he was encased by a barrier of humans with eyes burning with vengeance.

Shiki stepped out of the semi-circle, his voice mockingly happy but his face twisted into a terrible grimace. Shiki and his voice seemed so detached Yadogiri could have thought that a ventriloquist was only using Shiki as a mouthpiece.

"Thought that you could always get away from the Awakusu-kai, didn't you?" Shiki said dangerously. "How naively adorable."

He punched Yadogiri in the stomach without any warning. Yadogiri doubled over in pain, knocking into the wall. His hand flew to the back of his belt where he kept a loyal dagger, but Shiki took him by the shoulder, spun him around, and drove him face-first into the wall. He twisted Yadogiri's arm behind his back and knocked the knife to the ground.

"Your little magic disappearing acts didn't work out so well for you anymore, did they?" Shiki hissed. Yadogiri would have gritted his teeth in anger if his face wasn't rammed against the cold wall. He bit down so hard on the inside of his cheek that it bled. "It was always either me or the police, Yadogiri. You wouldn't have ever been able to elude the both of us for eternity."

He threw Yadogiri to the ground and clamped his foot on top of Yadogiri's head. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the members of the Awakusu-kai advance towards him.

"Who the hell ratted me out?" Yadogiri hissed, his lips grinding on the pavement.

"Someone who doesn't bend to the will of threats," Shiki growled, leaning more of his weight onto Yadogiri's head. Yadogiri nearly thought that Shiki's foot would go straight through his cranium, his brain and blood splattering on the pavement like a watermelon dropped from the roof of a building.

"Looks like none of your men are here to help you," Shiki said dryly. Without warning, the members of the Awakusu-kai fell upon Yadogiri. They feasted on sweet retaliation, striking every inch of his body with so much force that Yadogiri could barely breathe. Pain erupted in every nerve so that he couldn't even think or try to figure out how his incognito could have failed him.

"Stop!" he screamed—begged, even. He was answered with a vicious kick in the ribs. He was reduced to a sniveling, bruised punching bag blubbering for ridiculously disgusting mercy. "What do you want from me? Stop!"

"What do we want from you?" Shiki laughed, his laughter like jagged rocks. "Who said we have to want something from you?" He delivered a cruel punch to the jaw. Yadogiri's head collided with the ground and his sight was hazy. "We just want to reduce you to the muck you truly are."

Someone kicked Yadogiri against the skull and he jerked with pain. He drifted in and out of consciousness, his eyesight so hazy that all he knew of the world was blurred colors. He couldn't move and even tensing his muscles wracked his entire body with unspeakable pain. The blows lessened into nothingness as the Awakusu-kai backed off, satisfied with the beaten mess before them.

"What'll we do with him, Shiki-san?" a voice asked. Yadogiri could barely understand the voice; it was almost like a foreign language to his battered brain.

"Just leave him here to mold," Shiki grunted. "If he's found, it'll be by the police. We'd have killed two birds with one stone."

As Yadogiri was fluidly losing consciousness, he caught one last muttered utterance of Shiki.

"Call up Izaya and tell him we've got the bastard. Give him my thanks."

Orihara Izaya.

Yadogiri should have known that it was the informant.

Just as he was losing consciousness, Yadogiri felt not relief for an escape from his pain, but inexplicable, burning fury.

Orihara Izaya.

Yadogiri Jinnai was not one to let his enemies walk free. Orihara Izaya was no exception.

When the phone rang, Izaya didn't expect anything important. It was a lazier day today and all that he really brought himself to accomplish was brewing a pot of tea without even asking Namie to do it for him. Much less progress than usual and it was already seven in the morning.

So when he heard his cell phone chime its familiar music, he dived for it, craving for some sort of excitement. He checked the number and frowned when he didn't recognize it. Was it a new client? Or perhaps a tedious advertisement begging him to take a survey. He gave a small shrug to himself before flipping the cell phone open.

"Orihara Izaya speaking," he said lazily, sitting on top of his desk.

"Iza-kun?"

Izaya raised his eyebrows so high they nearly disappeared behind his bangs.

"Iza-kun, are you there?"

"…yes, I am," Izaya said carefully. No wonder he didn't recognize the number on the caller identification. He never bothered to save it in his list of contacts.

"Iza-kun! We haven't talked in such a long time! How are you?" the woman's bubbly voice rang in his ear. Izaya shifted awkwardly in his seat.

"I'm always fine. I take care of myself just fine," he assured her. In the background, Namie snorted with disbelief as she cleaned his kitchen.

"Are you eating well? I know how little you eat and that's not good at all, Iza-kun. You should gain some more weight—"

"Okasan, you didn't call me for the first time in months just to check on my eating habits, did you?" Izaya said, irritated.

"No, but Mother needs to check, you know!" Izaya's mother insisted.

"No, you don't," Izaya deadpanned. "I've been living by myself for quite an amount of time. If I'm not dead yet, I don't think the risk is too great."

"All right, I trust you, Iza-kun," his mother sighed. Izaya knew that deep inside, she didn't. "I have a favor to ask of you, and unfortunately my time is a little short."

"Hm," Izaya replied noncommittally.

"Your father and I have just been asked to go to a business meeting in Hong Kong. It's extremely urgent and we might be there for a long period of time."

"How long?" Izaya asked.

"Oh, we don't know yet. See, our business has a problem with its international affairs, says the letter. It could take us weeks."

Izaya didn't speak, waiting for his mother to tell him why she bothered to call him about this. He always knew that his parents were all over the world for business trips. It had been like that since his childhood.

"And we can't leave Mairu and Kururi to stay by themselves for such a long time—"

Ah, there it was.

"You've certainly didn't mind doing it before," Izaya said bluntly. He remembered times where he survived by himself for weeks when he was the twins' age.

"They're little girls, Iza-kun! What if something bad happens to them?"

Izaya giggled behind his hand. "Mairu takes martial arts classes. She's practically a black belt—perhaps ebony if she was allowed to use thumbtacks. Who would possibly mess with her?"

"Iza-kun, these are your sisters," his mother said sternly. "Please let them stay with you."

Izaya gritted his teeth. His mother had very little idea of what he did for a living. Having his sisters live with him would cause him many more problems.

"I'm going to prefer to decline," Izaya said.

"Izaya," she said. "Don't be so childish."

Izaya laughed, sitting cross-legged on the top of his desk. "It has nothing to do with immaturity, Okasan."

"Then what is it?" his mother demanded.

Izaya stopped laughing immediately. He bit his lip, trying to find the right answer for his mother.

"I wouldn't be the greatest of guardians," he said guardedly.

"Don't be silly. You've babysat them before," his mother pointed out.

That was before I was an informant, Izaya thought to himself.

"Take them with you, why don't you?" Izaya said. "I can't take care of Mairu and Kururi."

"We can't. You know we can't, otherwise we would have taken you all those times before," his mother pleaded. Izaya suppressed a scoff.

"You should have asked Shizu-chan to take care of them," Izaya said dryly. "They'd enjoy that more than living with onii-chan."

"Who?"

"Never mind," Izaya muttered. He bit down on his tongue, measuring how the cons outweighed the pros by far. His computer gave a little chime and he checked his email. During the time he was talking on the cell phone, he had received five new emails from clients, demanding an appointment. Many of them were from the Awakasu-kai. He narrowed his eyes before closing his laptop before even opening the mail.

"They wouldn't listen to me," Izaya reasoned.

"They know to do what's good for them," his mother counterattacked.

"They hate me," Izaya tried to say.

"They don't actually hate you. Sibling rivalry is common."

"We can't handle each other."

"It's only two or so weeks, Iza-kun."

They aren't safe with me.

The words nearly escaped Izaya's lips, but he caught himself before they came out. He took a sidelong glance at Namie, who was arranging his papers on the coffee table. What if it was too risky? He was usually one for risk, but only when he knew the outcome.

"…Drop them off at the park," Izaya finally said resolutely. "I'll pick them up there."

Before his mother could inquire, he shut off the phone.

"Oi, Namie," he said, tossing his phone onto his swivel chair. Namie raised her eyes up at Izaya. He slid off the desk, wiping away any telltale sign of discomfort or unease with a careless grin. "Go to the playground down near Raira, won't you? I need you to pick up some things for me."