Purple Hyacinth

Poke.

"Shizu-chan?"

Poke.

"Are you going to wake up anytime soon?"

Poke.

"It's been two weeks, you know. I'm so bored."

He continued to poke Shizuo's cheek, but stopped after a while and sighed. If it were any other time, Shizuo would surely wake up, get out of bed, shout, and throw the nearest thing at Izaya. But he didn't.

Because he was currently in a coma after falling down five storeys right on his head. Honestly, it shouldn't have been something worth worrying, for it was Heiwajima Shizuo we were talking about here. He could fall from twenty storeys onto the road, get hit by an incoming truck, sent flying twenty feet away, and could still stand up relatively unharmed.

Moreover, Izaya hadn't known anytime where Shizuo was in a coma for more than a week. Sure, he had broken his arms, his legs, his spine, his skull, but he was somehow still awake.

Izaya rested his chin on his hands as he watched Shizuo's chest rise and fall. Well, at least he was still alive, right?

Day in, day out. Izaya had been sitting by Shizuo's bed for he-didn't-know-how-long. Talking to him, watching him sleep…

Shizuo looked really peaceful sleeping like that, his usual frown not on his face, and Izaya kind of liked watching him this way. However, he would still very much prefer to have an alive and kicking Shizu-chan beside him. A Shizu-chan who got annoyed easily, but still treated him with care.

About a year ago, Izaya suddenly had a great obsession towards flowers, and well, he managed to get Shizuo to give in to his flower whims, and they had all sorts of flower activities together.

It was a mystery as for how the sudden hobby started, but Izaya didn't complain.

"Ne, Shizu-chan, guess what I bought today? Purple hyacinth! So pretty, right? Hmm~"

Izaya placed his hand on Shizuo's head and ruffled his blond locks. He liked the feel of his hair on his skin. It reminded him that Shizuo was still with him. He smirked a little, and then smoothed the hair back to its original position, away from Shizuo's face.

Izaya watched Shizuo for a while more, then rested his head on the bed, and drifted into sleep.

Shizu-chan… Please wake up soon…

Shizuo groaned. His head hurt, and everything was so dark. What happened? Where was he?

He opened his eyes blearily to see a familiar ceiling. So he was at his own house, huh? On his own bed.

Argh, why did his head hurt so much? Did he get into a fight again or something? Strange, he didn't have any recollections whatsoever.

He struggled a little to get into the sitting position, but stopped when he felt something moved on the left side of his bed.

What–?

"Shizu-chan? Shizu-chan, you're finally awake! Who do you think you are, sleeping beauty? For you to be asleep for so long…" Shizuo just stoned there as the tuft of black hair move to reveal one Orihara Izaya, who moved forward to hug him.

Shizuo couldn't move as Izaya wrapped his arms around his neck, too shocked to have any reaction. What is the flea doing? Is he planning something? But his smile… Shizuo didn't remember when Izaya smiled like that before, especially not at him.

He did what his muscles told him; he pushed Izaya away from him. Hard. So hard that Izaya flew away and hit the closet with a loud 'thud'.

"Ow… what was that for, Shizu-chan? Don't you miss me?" Izaya winced as he rubbed his back.

"Miss you? Don't be so disgusting, flea. I hate you. I want to kill you. What are you doing at my house? Planning to kill me? Are you the one who caused my head to hurt? I bet you are, huh. I'm going to kill you, flea."

Shizuo only saw Izaya's eyes widened in shock at his words. "Shi… zu… chan… You… You…"

Wow, Shizuo had to admit he never saw Izaya with this expression before. Was he shocked? For what? He seemed at a loss, like the whole world just crushed onto him. Shizuo wanted to laugh, to mock and tease him, but somehow Izaya's expression stirred something within his chest.

He ignored it. He decided to just savour the expression of the flea for now, before the latter started to open his mouth and annoy him again.

Shizuo opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by the door which burst open.

"Hey, is everything alright? I heard a crash and– Shizuo? You're awake? That's great! And Izaya– Izaya, why are you on the floor?" It was Shinra.

Shizuo heaved a sigh of relief. Honestly, he didn't want to be alone in the same room as that stinky flea anymore. How did he get into his house in the first place? Jeez.

"Shinra, great, if you mind telling me what happened–"

"He doesn't remember…" Izaya mumbled.

Shinra turned to look at Izaya. "What?"

"Shizu-chan… doesn't remember."

"What the hell flea–"

"HAHAHAHHAHAHA! Shizu-chan has amnesia! HHAHAHAHA… hahaha. hah…" Izaya laughed while the other two occupants in the room just stared.

"Can you repeat that, Izaya? Amnesia?" Shinra frowned. "Shizuo, what was the last thing you remember?"

"Erm…"

"How about, what's today's date?"

Shizuo wrinkled his brows and gave the date he could remember.

"That's… one year ago. Well, it appears that you do have amnesia… That hit on the head must be pretty bad, huh…"

"What? One year ago? But…!"

"I'll have to check your head to be sure." Shinra looked at Izaya. "Izaya…"

"Flea, what are you still doing in my room? Heck, why are you still in my house, damn flea?! Get out before I kill you!"

"Shizu-chan…" Izaya finally looked up and stared at Shizuo. "I just wanted to check if you're dead yet. But no, you're still alive and kicking! Hahahahaha! I was going to kill you in your sleep! Turns out you have amnesia! How funny is that?"

"IZAAAYAAA!" Shizuo finally threw the table lamp beside him at Izaya, to which Izaya dodged.

"Hahahahah!"

"Izaya…" Shinra frowned. "You–"

"This is so hilarious!" Izaya continued to laugh as if he was in a craze. In fact, perhaps he really was.

"Shinra, why is the damn flea in my house? Care to explain?" Shizuo glared at Shinra. I didn't know you would let him, of all people, into my house. God damn it, I trusted you to keep my house in tact if I'm in a coma! Was the unspoken and underlying words in Shizuo's speech.

"Ah. Well you see, Izaya and you are actually–" Shinra started to explain the situation and the fact that he was actually not at fault here – if you had your memories, Shizuo – only for Izaya to cut in.

"Shinra!" Izaya threw him a sharp and warning glance. His face said it all. Don't tell Shizuo about them.

Dating.

Shinra shrugged. If Izaya didn't want to talk about it, then he didn't have to right to interfere. "Never mind."

Shizuo just watched in confusion. "What–"

"Hey Shizu-chan, get better soon okay? Then you can chase me around again, and I can kill you with my own hands! Haha!"

Izaya ran out of the room with his usual maniac laughter, throwing the door shut with a resounding bang behind, leaving Shinra and Shizuo in a silence.

"What was that?" Was all Shizuo could say. The flea was annoying as usual, yeah, but there was something extremely weird about him today. "What were you going to say, Shinra?"

"Nothing, nothing. Nothing important anyway." Shinra waved his question away. "Now, do you mind telling me what the last thing you remember was?"

"Well, it was a pretty normal day, I just finished my job and I went to bed, and hmm, actually, you know what, my memories are still kind of blurry."

Shinra stared at him like he was a specimen, and said, "Well honestly, I don't think it's anything major. I had checked before and there was no permanent brain damage, so your memories will probably be clear soon enough. You remember who your parents and brother are, don't you?"

Shizuo nodded.

"As for that one year… That's most likely something similar to lacunar amnesia, I'll have a more thorough check-up later on to see what's specifically the problem. As for now, how are you feeling?"

"Okay, but my head is killing me. Can you get me a glass of water?"

Shinra did as he was asked.

"Thanks." As Shizuo drank the water greedily, Shinra caught sight of the purple hyacinths in the vase, on the windowsill and asked, "Izaya put those flowers there?"

"Huh… What? Those flowers? Why–?" Shizuo turned to where Shinra was looking. He couldn't remember when there was a vase there, and had not noticed the flowers until Shinra mentioned it.

"Oh right, you wouldn't know." Shinra said as he did his check-up. "Yeah, of course it was Izaya who put them there… Excuse me, that was a stupid question. He does have a sudden obsession with flowers, and I think he changed them every week or so. Hmm, but do you know the language of purple hyacinths?"

"The… language…?"

"You know, the language of flowers. Don't ask me how I know, but if I remembered correctly, I think purple hyacinths meant… 'I am sorry', 'please forgive me', and sorrow."

"… And?"

Shinra smiled, "And nothing, of course, I'm just saying."

"Why is Izaya here? What exactly happened in this one year? How much did I actually forget?" Shizuo hit his head in frustration.

"Hey! Be more gentle with your head, it's still recovering." Shinra panicked a little. "Well, many things happened… and I guess your life changed a lot."

Shizuo gritted his teeth. "What's with that flea, then?"

"Well…" Shinra didn't know how to explain to Shizuo, and Izaya didn't want Shizuo to know anything about their relationship. "You two became closer…? Don't hate each other as much?" That didn't count as revealing their relationship right?

"WHAT? Me and that flea? Don't make me laugh."

Shinra sighed at Shizuo's attitude. "Just… don't be so be too mean to Izaya, okay? He's having a rough time now."

"Why? Because I lost my memories? Really, that flea? What the hell happened in one year?"

Okay, maybe Shinra understood why Izaya didn't want to tell Shizuo about their relationship. Shizuo is stubborn as stone, and he definitely would not take the news well. Probably will beat Izaya until the days to come, thinking that it was all a plan to get to him. Suddenly Shinra felt a twinge of pity for Izaya.

"We'll talk about it after I finished the check-up, okay? Don't move."

"Hmph."

The moment Izaya closed the door behind him, his mask crumbled. Should he cry? No, Orihara Izaya doesn't cry. Should he be in pain? No…

Then why–?

Why was his chest hurting so much? Izaya grabbed the wall for support as he felt strength leaving his legs, only to fall onto the ground a few seconds later. He leaned against the wall and curled up, wrapping his arms around legs as he hugged his knees.

He knew it. Loving humans was one thing, but loving one person – especially when that person is Heiwajima Shizuo – specially, was a weakness.

Izaya liked to be God. He believed himself to be God, controlling other people as if they were his pawns. He liked watching, observing as humans react to the things around them, but not being in their position himself. Thus he didn't expect himself to be dragged into the horrible game of Life, having no control over anything. He hated to lose control.

Shizu-chan was always so unpredictable. That was what made him interested in the first place, wasn't it?

Damn you, Shizu-chan. Forgetting about me? Forgetting about us? Trust you to do that. Am I so insignificant that you can forget your time with me just with a hit on your head?

Ah… didn't that hurt. Izaya wanted to laugh. Laugh at Shizuo, laugh at human beings, and laugh at himself.

He closed his eyes and continued to lean against the wall, the world turning into utter darkness around him.