"You're an asshole!" you screamed.

"I know," he replied simply, almost sounding bored with your volley of insults that had been passed for the past few minutes.

"I hate you!"

"Was that one even supposed to bother me?"

Something close to a growl was emitted from your throat. Only three days had passed and you were growing to hate Shizuo even more. After the incident with Izaya the previous day, he was suddenly overly paranoid that something - or someone - was out to get you. He refused to let you leave the apartment the two of you shared, even under his supervision.

"You can't keep me locked here!"

"I already am."

"I-I...,past" you said, desperately trying to think of ways to get him to release you. "I'll tell my father-"

"Tell your father what? That I'm doing exactly what he told me to do? Good luck with getting me in trouble with that one, princess," he said smugly.

You were practically seething in anger by that point. After three days of living with you, he was finally done with hearing that same threat from you. By that point, you were desperate wracking your brain for ideas to make him release you. Using your father as a threat was all you ever had to do, but now that Shizuo made it clear it wouldn't work, you were practically helpless this time. Tears threatened to spill down your face out of sheer frustration.

"If you're done trying to insult me, I'll be taking my shower now," he remarked as he turned his back to you, noticing your trembling jaw. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he felt bad for doing this, but there was no choice.

"I'm surprised he's not making me take one with him," you muttered to yourself, but he did indeed hear it.

"By all means, come on it," he said as his lips twisted into a smirk. "I'm not shy."

"Just go take your shower, you pervert!"

He couldn't help but chuckle when he noticed the blush that was blooming across your face. Nevertheless, he headed towards the bathroom door, only stopping to wave a small key in his hand and to say one last thing.

"By the way, before you attempt to leave the apartment while I'm in here, only I have the key."

With that final irritating statement, he entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him, being sure to lock it. Grabbing the nearest pillow on the couch, you screamed into it, not even caring anymore if he could hear you. You refused to let him win like this. He was overly paranoid of things and was making you suffer for that. He must be insane if he honestly thinks that you'd stay in this tiny apartment until it was time for you to go home.

Getting up from the couch, you made your way over to the door just to find that it really was locked like he claimed. You honestly didn't know what you were expecting; even he wasn't stupid enough to make that big of a bluff with you. This couldn't be safe, though. What the hell were you expected to do if there was ever a fire? Unless there was a fire escape somewhere...

Running to the living room window, you looked out just to find that the fire escape wasn't there. The bathroom definitely didn't have one, but perhaps in Shizuo's room there was. Walking as quietly as you could pass the bathroom, you made your way inside his room and ran to the window to find that was exactly where it was. The shower was suddenly turned off letting you know that you only had a few minutes left at the very most. As you opened the window, you quickly slipped out. While running down the clunky stairs, you braced to hear him scream at any moment. You knew he'd be angry, but you couldn't care less. For all you knew, it served him right for trying to keep you locked up like an animal.

Before long, you finally reached solid ground. This was it - you could finally explore Ikebukuro without him constantly being on your tail. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?

Throughout his whole shower, Shizuo felt guilty. He made it painfully clear that he only saw you as a pain in the ass, but he couldn't help but feel bad when he saw how upset you were over these new arrangements. If Izaya really was going after you, he wouldn't dare do so with Shizuo by your side all the time. Maybe he could take you outside just for a little while.

After stepping out of the shower and throwing some clothes on, he exited the bathroom while drying his hair. "Hey, (Y/N)," he called while his eyes were still shielded by the towel. "Stop complaining and I'll take you out-"

He stopped mid-sentence when he was finally able to see. You were no longer seated on the couch where he last left you. He ran throughout the tiny apartment until he reached his room where he discovered the window which was now open from the last time he was in the room. It didn't take long for him to realize what you did.

"Dammit!" he roared as he punched his bedroom door, leaving a fist-sized hole in the middle of it.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

It was all he could say. He was so angry that it was difficult for him to form other words. He couldn't even leave you alone for ten damn minutes! How the hell was he supposed to do his job like this?

"This girl is so not worth the money," he mumbled to himself. But nonetheless, without hesitation, he ran out his apartment door in search for you.

Ikebukuro never seemed this intimidating to you until now. Of course you noticed the past two days that it was a large city, but it never seemed to phase you. Shizuo walked through the streets so confidently and knowingly that it almost made you feel like you were like that too. Now, without his company, you just felt like a lost puppy among the sea of people.

You were so used to people making sure to walk around you when he was by your side. Without him, you were nothing special to them. It was like a new game to dodge around all the people so you wouldn't get pushed back. When two guys forcefully ran into you, you couldn't help but open your mouth.

"Excuse you," you said angrily at the pair of guys.

"Did you say something, little girl?" one of them asked mockingly as they both turned their heads, revealing the colored bandanas they wore. They were from a color gang, something that Shizuo made sure to warn you about.

"N-nothing," you quickly stuttered before running away.

After that, everything seemed to scare you. The honking of cars, the wailing sirens of police and ambulance, and even some creepy looking pedestrians. It didn't take you long to realize that you made a horrible mistake of coming out here alone, but you had no idea how to get back to the apartment and no phone on you to call Shizuo even if you did have his number. You were stuck and alone.

As you ran around the city trying desperately to find something that looked even remotely familiar to help you get back to the apartment. By now, Shizuo had to be looking for you so maybe you'd even run into him along the way. Just thinking about how much he'd yell at you once he found you was enough to deter that thought away. On second thought, maybe getting to the apartment first would be a better idea.

After a while, you finally stumbled across what looked to be an empty street. The houses all looked abandoned and there wasn't any person in sight. It definitely didn't look familiar, but you didn't care. You needed to get away from all the noise you had to endure for the past, what seemed to be, hour.

You slowly walked down the empty road, yearning to find a place to rest. All the running you did made you exhausted. At first, when you heard the sound of an engine and tires squealing behind you, you only thought it was your imagination for some reason. But as you turned around the noticed a black car zooming right towards you, you only had a mere second to react. Jumping out of the way, your head made contact with the cement sidewalk. Before you could feel the pain of the blow, everything went black.

******

"Where is she? Where is she?" Shizuo muttered to himself as he wandered around looking for you.

Sure, he was beyond pissed that you left the apartment without his protection, but he was also beyond worried. So many things could happen to you that he was afraid of. After an hour passed by and no sign of you, his anger was slowly dimming away while his worry was increasing. Where the hell did you go?

As he turned onto a street, he saw in the distance a girl with (H/L), (H/C) hair laying in the middle of the road with what looked to be a puddle of blood right by her head. It didn't take him long to realize that girl was you.

"No, no, no!" he screamed as he rushed over to you. "What the hell happened?"

There was no reply from you and he feared for the worst. He bit his hand hard to the point where he was bleeding to prevent the volley of curses that threatened to escape his mouth. Gently rolling you over on your back, he carefully places his fingers on your neck and was relieved when he felt that a pulse was still there. All he knew was that you need stitches immediately. Taking out his phone, he quickly dialed the number he needed.

"It's an emergency, Celty," he told her. "You better come quickly."