Taking Flight [Hold]

Chapter 2

  The first day of school for Izaya was hell to say the least. Walking in the place, wearing the god forsaken uniform that was required nearly made him have a heart attack. He wasn’t allowed to wear a jacket. The minute the man told him something about the blazer Izaya's back turned to the window behind him, ready to run. Normally, it was either fight or flight and Izaya wasn’t trained enough to go for the first option yet.

  His mother raised her right palm, quickly catching the man’s attention as a sly grin formed across her face. “Mr. Kawaguchi- Please understand that Izaya is immensely…shy. He was bullied in his last couple of schools in Russia, he uses his jacket as a way to shield himself from…attacks. We believe that he may never truly grow out of protecting himself in such a way even unto adulthood.”

  The man stared at his mother for a moment, as if he were trying to processes what she was say before his mind finally caught up with his ears and his mouth made an ‘o’ shape. “Yes, that makes perfect since. Thank you for informing me of his condition, Ms. Orihara.” The end of Kyouko’s mouth twitched as she smiled.

  “Yes, of course. I must be going.”  She turned, her hair moving swiftly behind her as she did so.

  “Y-yes, of course. Your son is in good hands, Ms. Orihara. Your son is in good hands.” The man stammered out the first bit of his sentence, quickly trying to cover it up with the rest of his response. Izaya's suspensions of his mother hearing it were confirmed with her response.

  "Of course he is, Mr. Kawaguchi. That’s why he’s here.”

  Of course it wasn’t.

-

  “Have you heard of Shizu-chan?” The girl next to him squeaked out, causing him to look over at her. He stood a few inches above the dark-haired girl. Her doe brown eyes were big with what almost seemed like fear as she looked at him. He felt his wings tighten to his back.

  “No…I haven’t who is that?” Izaya spoke quietly so he wouldn’t scare the small girl, who already seemed terrified to make human contact much less talk to him. He nearly let out a noise of surprise as she took a seat next to him.

  “There’s this student, named Shizu-chan. They’re really strong. I saw Shizu-chan rip a stop sign from the ground the other day and throw it a couple guys. And the day before that, Shizu-chan picked a desk up and threw it clean out the window and across the school yard…” Izaya nodded some, almost taking the girl’s shyness as an act because of how much she just spoke.

  “Hmm…Shizu-chan…I’ll have to meet her.” Izaya spoke to himself and as the girl opened her mouth her mouth to say something, but the teacher walked in to start class. She quickly closed her mouth and ran to her desk.

-

  The brunette girl laughed some as he spoke about the infamous ‘Shizu-chan’ he heard about nearly four years ago.

  “Shizuo isn’t a girl. He’s a guy. He goes to umm… I don’t know. Though, I think he’s supposed to go to Raira Academy next year.” She took a drag of her cigarette. “At least that’s what I’ve heard”

  Izaya looked at the brunette; her long hair was in a messy bun as she looked strait ahead of her. Her father was the principal of his old middle school, a Kawaguchi girl. The girls in the Kawaguchi family were known for causing…problems to say the least. They were known for joining woman gangs or dating boys that could be found in colored gangs around Ikebukuro. Yumi Kawaguchi was different from the most of her family. She smoked and that was about as bad as she got. She detested the idea of color gangs and referred to them as ‘junior high kids playing cops and robbers without the cops.’

  “Wait- The person who told me about her- him, called him ‘Shizu-chan’.” Izaya glanced at her and a grin spread across the girl’s face as she turned her head to look at him.

  “You were a kid, Orihara, and so was the girl who told you about him. You probably scared the shit out of her, you can be intimidating.” Yumi looked at him, the edge of her mouth quirked up in a side smirk.

  “I was twelve at the time. I couldn’t have been to intimidating.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Yumi burst into laughter, bending over and holding her cigarette as to not burn herself.

  "Tell that bull to someone else, Izaya! In case you haven’t noticed, I know you! I know who you are and how you work! I’m the only person who does beside Kyouko!” Izaya flinch at his mother’s name, making Yumi quite down.

  It was silent for some time before she spoke again.

  “You started your job already, huh?” Her voice was so quite, it surprised him. “You started your whole informant thing…”

  "Yeah…” His reply came softly as he looked at her and she smiled sadly.

  "Can you do me a favor…? Like off the books- no charge. As something to get you more worked into the whole thing.” The brunette’s eyes were looked on the brick next to Izaya's head, never making eye contact with him.

  “What is it, Yumi?” It was strange, calling her by her first name. It was something that they rarely did and if it was the case than they were arguing.

  “Can you find my mom…? Or like…where she is? Or even a picture of her..? I only have one, a picture. It was taken before I was born and my dad never talks about her..” Yumi finally moved to looked at Izaya, he eyes sparkling with tears that brimmed at the ends of her lashes. “Can you do that for me…?”

  Izaya looked at Yumi, long and hard. She never spoke about her mother, just like he never spoke about his father. The other person had the parent that one was missing and those present parents weren’t exactly saints. It was how their relationship worked so well, it was their ignorance never showed in front of others.

  “I’ll do it. I promise.”