[FIN] Between a Rocket and a Hard Place

[Kitomyx]

"Good question~" He turned to her. "You don't live here?" Izaya gestured toward the apartment complexes.  

[Tori Honoo]

Her brows furrowed and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Every time you say something that foolish, it makes me wonder how you're an informant. You honestly think I would live here? Or even let you walk me home in the first place?" the questions she asked, she didn't truly expect an answer to. She was sure he would only tease her again.  

[Kitomyx]

"Foolish?" he chuckled. "It was a question, not a fact. How is an informant supposed to gather information without asking questions?" Smiling merrily, he shrugged at her own inquiries. "And why wouldn't you~?"  

[Tori Honoo]

"Why wouldn't I let you walk me home?" she repeated, adding words to clarify his question. "Surely you're good enough at your job to know the answer to that."

She stayed tense, ready to run if she needed, phone in hand and sparky still ever watchful at her side.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya grinned at her. It wasn't the first time his skills as an informant had been questioned. "Just because I have an idea doesn't mean it's the same as the answer I'd get from someone if I asked them directly," he explained. "Even if it's not the truth, it's always fun to know what they're thinking. So won't you humor me~? I might even be wrong."  

[Tori Honoo]

She stared at him evenly, irritated but intrigued by his logic. "I'm afraid I'll have to spoil your fun then, since you've guessed so insultingly wrong." she watched him, then took a step to one side, looking up the street. "I'm afraid it would be best if we parted ways, for the evening." Or forever.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"What?" he laughed aloud, harder than before. His voice echoed off the empty streets of the city. He didn't seem to mind if he woke anyone. "But I didn't even make any guesses~ How could you call me wrong, let alone insulting?"

"Now that doesn't even make sense," he snickered, still trying to catch his breath. "You're afraid of what would be best? Assuming you even know what's best, though you haven't even given a reason as to why, the wording of your statement implies that you'd prefer we didn't part. How do you explain that?" He continued to grin, wider than before. "Because if that is true, then I really am wrong in my guess."  

[Tori Honoo]

"You brought me here, didn't you?" she asked, looking g around the homes when he laughed, her face pale. "I've no other idea why you might bring me here if you didn't think I owned one of these apartments. You're supposedly walking me home, right, and you didn't even ask where I live."

Not that he would ever know, if it were up to her.

She shook her head, sighing deeply. "Are we done here? I'm sure you have better things to do than pretend to walk an innocent young woman home, especially if she has no interest in you."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Actually, it was you followed me blindly~" the informant retorted with a sweet smile. "Alright, Dove-chan. Since you seem to want me to ask so badly, where is it that you live?"

He chuckled at her comment. "It's never mattered to me whether or not people are interested in me. All I know and need to know is that I'm interested in them. That's all there is to it." He held out his arms to the side in a sweeping gesture. "Besides, I don't have to pretend if you'll let me actually walk you home. It's not as though I have any reason to harm you, is it?"  

[Tori Honoo]

She shook her head, resisting the overwhelming urge to roll her eyes, and choosing to ignore his previous statements.

"That's really creepy, Izaya. I'd rather you have no interest in me at all." she told him flatly, though she gave a sickeningly sweet smile to match his own. "And I'm afraid you'll need to brush up on your acting skills if you run into Chikage-San again, because there's no way I'm letting you escort me home." with that, she started off down the street, Sparky following a few paces behind, his gaze over his shoulder at the man.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Oh, you don't know the meaning of 'creepy'," the man giggled. "Besides, that's not the worst thing I've been called. And it's not you I'm interested in. It's humans as a species~"

He gave a harsh laugh as she turned away. "Acting? What does acting have to do with anything?" the informer laughed aloud. "I'm doing my best; it's you who's being stubborn."

"Hmm...'Chikage-san', was it?" he repeated, his smile becoming more thoughtful. "Did you catch his first name? I guess that would explain a thing or two..." Ignoring Dove's proclamation, he followed after Sparky and his trainer, gazing upward as he pondered the name of the man.  

[Tori Honoo]

She--again-- ignored his first comment in reply, unsure if she would ever want to know his definition of creepy.

She glanced over her shoulder, tensing when he laughed harshly and narrowing her eyes as she continued walking. "Stubborn? I just don't want you following me home. There are much more interesting people to follow at this time of night. Perhaps you should just go back and find that group."

Maybe she just needed to go back and find that group. At this point, she was almost willing to be accompanied by a band of bikers as opposed to Izaya.

She shook her head when he repeated the man's name, her fist tightly clenched. "I might have, but I see no benefit in passing it along to you."


Sparky gave a low growl at the informant, watching him carefully as he followed his mistress to whatever destination she had chosen.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Hahaha, I'm sure you know how interesting a person is considered is subjective," Izaya answered casually, now skipping and dancing along as if the sidewalk had hopscotch lines drawn on it. "Besides, I'm more likely to learn what I want to know about them from you."

He beamed at her last sentence and ceased his hopping, standing still for a minute as he watched her back. "Ahh....so there we have it," he snickered, sounding as delighted as a kid who'd discovered his favorite toy for Christmas. "Your true colors. You're looking out for yourself - the kind of person who only does something to get something in return."

"I can respect that; it's typical business protocol. So...you want to know how you'll benefit?" He cocked his head to the side as he grinned. "Well what if I told you a fascinating fact or two about that Roka-kun you went to high school with? Would that be a fair trade in regards to information?"  

[Tori Honoo]

She kept her back to him, though Sparky continued to watch him, baffled at the man's eccentric behavior. She bit her tongue, holding back the retort she knew even she would have to discount. She did, however, shake her head, more in determination than disagreement. She was fixing things... She wasn't going to let him come in and mess with that. He was only toying with the piece of mind she gave him.

She rolled her eyes, however, as he again pressed for Chikage's full name. She would not allow him that information, no matter how hard he pressed. There was no telling what Izaya might do with it, and though yes, the gang leader had frightened her a bit, he had done her no harm. His business with Izaya was his own, and she didn't want to be in the middle of it any more than she already appeared to be.

However, the words he offered next made her freeze midstep, and she stilled, her fist clenching again, then relaxing. After a long moment's pause, she spoke again, barely trusting her own voice. "I'll admit, it's a tempting offer... But Toshiro Roka is dead to me, until he wishes otherwise..." The green eyed young man she once knew was gone... only Akira stood in his place, and she would be absolutely cursed if she were to try to resurrect the memories he so obviously wanted to avoid.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The informant continued to grin, amused at how openly the girl reacted driven by emotions. She didn't seem to be making any effort whatsoever to put up any sort of guard. He might have at least expected her to deny that she was interested in such information.

"Alright, in order to show you what a generous guy I am, I'll tell you something. You already gave me the name 'Chikage', so consider this payment for that." He withdrew a hand from his pocket to inspect his nails in the dim street light.

"I am the one who sold Roka-kun his identity as Akira Midoriyama. Therefore, I know everything about Akira-kun as well. In fact, I have a feeling that he might have had something to do with that biker gang being in the city tonight...but of course I wouldn't be able to be sure unless you told me more about them."