[ON HIATUS] The Broker (Izaya X Reader)

1 A Newcomer

The man forcefully pushed me against the brick wall of the dark alleyway. My head slammed against the hard surface as I winced. With his hand in a tight fist, he threateningly punched the space beside me.

"How much did you hear?" he asked. His voice was slightly muffled due to the yellow scarf tied around his mouth. Behind him, his henchmen--who also wore yellow bandanas--practiced swinging their bats; probably imagining my head as the ball. When I didn't answer, the man tugged on my hair and threw my head against the wall again. He repeated himself, "How much did you hear? Dammit!"

"L-" I stuttered out, breathing heavily as I felt my blood trickle down my forehead. "Let... me go..."

His eyes adjusted into a glare. Although his mouth was concealed behind the scarf, I could still clearly see his smirk. His free hand rose up in a tight fist. Brass knuckles glistened in the dim light as they wrapped around each of his fingers.

Shutting my eyes, I braced myself for impact. I was completely prepared for a punch to be delivered straight at my face. Where would it land? My eyes? My nose? Cheeks? Lips?

"Whoa-ho-ho~!" exclaimed a voice in amusement from the opening of the alley. The fist didn't come, so I slowly opened my eyes. "My, my..." it spoke again. "What do we have here? Hm~?"

"And who the hell are you?" the man in front of me asked the stranger clad in black. Now he wasn't paying attention to me, and nor were his comrades. He was open.

Sliding a hand into my pocket, I sifted through what was inside and rested my desperate fingers on my crafting knife. Oh, man; I was so damn lucky to have that thing with me. Next, I kicked the guy's shin. In actuality, I was aiming for his... um... yeah. But my foot was closest to the shin, so I subconsciously went for it.

In the midst of his pain, he let go of my hair. I took that moment to stomp on his foot with my heel and twist it in. Pulling my hand out of my pocket, I spun around the man and pointed my crafting knife at his neck while my other arm had him in a choke hold.

I turned my head slightly to look at the person who was watching from the alleyway's exit. Something slid out from under his coat's sleeve and landed in the palm of his hand. When he flicked it, I saw a blade appear, and I suddenly turned defensive. In a flash, the knife was thrown in my direction, hurling straight at my face. I couldn't dodge it.

It took me a few moments of realization to find that I wasn't killed; that the knife was aimed at something behind me instead.

"Little Miss, aren't you a bit reckless?" the mysterious man inquired with a smirk. "You need to pay attention to your surroundings if you want to win in an unfair fight."

I turned around to see the two henchmen quivering in fear. "Crap," I thought to myself, "I forgot about them..." As I took a closer look, I saw that both men had a side of each of their heads shaved. What the hell did this guy do?

Sighing, I hit the top of my hostage's head, and he knocked out pretty quickly. I fixed my attention towards the two frightened ones and scared them into giving me my purse back before pocketing my crafting knife.

Finally, I was able to leave these people and head home. It was getting late, and I had work the next day. However, right when I was about to leave, my exit was blocked off. Looking up, I studied the person more closely.

He had dark hair and reddish-brown orbs. A black v-neck hugged his body accompanied by a fur-trimmed coat, a silver ring on one finger of each hand, jeans held up with a belt, and boots. A metallic suitcase stood beside him, looking extremely shady. His hands stuffed his pockets and his eyes pierced into mine... He was intimidating.