Her hand laced around my wrist lightly, as though she didn't even care that I was her lifeline preventing her from plummeting off the edge of the building. "I could let you drop now," I laughed "what you came here to do, fall and end up a squish on the pages of humanity."

A laugh danced from her lips, a thrilling sound, refreshing to the utmost, and strangely captivating. "A squish?" she stroked my wrist with her smallest finger. "How curious, I didn't even come here to die!" She looked into my eyes with virtuoso brilliance and a desperation I had only ever seen once before. It made me want to hurt her more than anyone else I had ever hurt before. "So if we are all just squish, what, indeed, is the purpose of us all? The greater purpose if we have one?" somehow I could hear the 'we' and 'us' she spoke of as 'you and me'. She loosened her grip slightly on my hand and I felt her body shift further over the precipice. "Are we to continue squishing into nothingness, or are we meant to change something, create something better or more devastating than has ever been done before. Or is that a mere squish as well? If the latter, why do you continue as you have been? If the former, I don't care."

Suddenly she swirled upwards, twirling on the edge of the building, and placed her other hand on my shoulder. "There is something enchanting about death, is there not?" I giggled, and we danced. A swift, tangled dance across the thin edge. It was enchanting, but what caught me more than the danger was her. This girl, this strange creature who spoke my thoughts aloud and reflected my own emotions. Our hands laced together, our feet matched identically, we depended on the each other for stability on that ledge. My ideas warped, and I changed my mind. I wanted to see her, inside and out, know her mind intrinsically, and touch on that fearfully bright thing I saw inside her.

She spun away from me, twirling quickly, and then bent in a bow, steps never wavering. "Thank you for the dance, Sir." she smiled, but I could sense a sneer at the ironic identifier. Or maybe that was my own attitude towards the formality. She easily leapt the railing to the roof, and I followed, leaning my back on it.

"Where are you off to now, Miss?" I asked, sneering openly.

She laughed and skipped to the stair doors. "Nowhere, everywhere," she laughed at her own private joke. "I don't know, but I'll find somewhere I'm sure!" she made somewhere sound like an identifiable location. I hmmed and gazed into the stars. When I looked back she was gone. A glowing ember of excitement sparked. She couldn't hide from me in this town.

The crowds of this town were easy and predictable. I enjoyed losing myself in the flow, however. I knew I had captured his interest. Now I had to receive his attention. Ikebukuro was a sinful mess of a city, perfect for my intentions, and excellent for hiding. He didn't know my name, or what I looked like. I dumped my cell in the pocket of a stranger, and slumped over, letting the anonymity wash over me. Meandering slowly, I found my way back to my hotel. Opium clouds from the back rooms accosted me, but higher up in my room I was free. My bag was ready for me, along with another cellphone. I left without checking out.
The nightlife stumbled about, but I knew where to walk to stay out of sight. Izaya had control over the ally's. I knew that even with the color gangs returning, Izaya ruled the darkness. I walked the streets, heading to the apartment I rented a week ago. It was average, opposite the apartments Izaya occasionally rented out to clients. His dark grin filled my mind, and I pushed it aside. Plan A, gain some power. And here, power was money and knowledge.

That girl. She screwed up my plans completely. Was she another piece? Was she a pawn? As soon as people began claiming to be a new faction, the Shades, I knew she was the cause. I knew every boring person who entered this place, and every one of them who left. She dropped off my very expansive radar immediately after she disappeared from my sight. I wondered whether this new gang was like the Dollars, or the Color Gangs, or the Slashers. Though I sincerely doubted her influence extended over a mythological katana brainwashing serial killers. I needed her here. I both hated and got off on the fact that something was hidden from me, I hoped she provided some kind of entertainment before the chase was cut short.

At the yellow bandana meeting, I met the leader. A small blonde kid who apparently didn't want to be here at all. He was ordinary, and his powers stretched only as far as sheer volume of members, not through cleverness and politics. A slight disappointment. The leader of the Dollars was more of an interesting character. Through hacking I discovered his identity was also that of a normal and average high schooler, close friends with the Yellow Bandana honcho. I followed him for several days, finding nothing of notable interest, except that the Dollars were a peaceful and kind society, invented out of boredom, and had spread quickly. Their reputation was the only influence they had, so shrouded in mystery as they were. The Slashers were the only power that I could not infiltrate. Apparently you had to be slashed by them to get in, and frankly I didn't fancy that. Izaya had his hand in every pocket. I found him everywhere, I saw him on the streets, and found that he had a self proclaimed arch enemy- Shizuo. Full of immense physical strength, he fought with Izaya at every opportunity. I found him one day, outside the offices I was considering renting as my headquarters. "Shizuo?" I asked the Noticeable man dressed as a bartender.

He looked at me over his purple-lensed glasses. "What?" he grunted around his cigarette.

I smiled politely, unsure of whether I wanted him as an ally yet. "I've heard a lot about you."

He blew a cloud of smoke over my head "Oh yeah, I'll bet."

He began to saunter away, but I wasn't finished with him. "From that guy, Izaya."
Immediately I saw his fists clench and his posture hunch as he tensed. "That bastard," he growled, and then spun and lunched for the front of my shirt. I let him grab me, no point revealing all my cards at this stage. "You're a friend of his?" I felt his hand tighten.

"No, no." I laughed "He and I had a chat once, and I decided I didn't like the amount of control he has over this city."

Shizuo stared beyond me "Yeah, he's a rat alright..." he looked back and realized he was holding me off the ground. "Sorry." he gruffly set me back on my feet. My plain white t shirt was ripped slightly at the neck, but it was cheap, and I didn't mind. "why find me then?" he asked, dropping is cigarette and stubbing it out with his toe.

"I want influence, and my current methods of obtaining it aren't fast enough, with the way things are unravelling." I ruffled my hair sheepishly "I guess what I'm trying to ask you, is if you know of a way I can distract him for a short period of time?"

Shizuo narrowed his eyes, and lit another smoke. "The best advice I can give you is to stay out of the shadows kid, it's too dangerous for fucking around in." he blew another cloud and looked thoughtful. "But, seeing as I hate Izaya more than anyone else, I'll give you the number of a friend. She's a pretty powerful individual, and she can do anything you ask her to."

I walked away smiling. Celty the courier.

The plan worked almost exactly how I intended it to go, except for the fact that my goons were meant to kidnap the girl, not the other way around. I expected them by 11, and she dropped them off at 12. The van kiltered to a stop in front of me in the empty parking lot, a flat tire and dented from the outside and in. It looked like a bull had attacked the vehicle. The girl got out of the drivers seat with a slightly wobbly step, and opened the back doors. The idiots were destroyed, bloody and unconscious they were minus one.

"Well, this is an incomplete delivery!" I laughed.

She smiled and dusted her torn jeans. "Considering you ordered one female, I think two males is the better bargain!"

I slipped a hand around her waist as she swayed fractionally and spun her around in my arms "On the contrary, this female was worth more than all the men in my employ." her pupils were dilated to the extreme, how she managed to drive here I had no idea.

"Oh well, next time I'll bring some who aren't in your employ then!" she slurred the last word and attempted to move away from me, but I held her small, drooping body tightly against me.

"Well I think getting 2 men, and a woman is a good deal."

"Pity your aren't getting the woman." a hard piercing force imploded between my legs. The breath was knocked out of me, and a light exploded between my eyes. I fell back onto my ass as the girl backed away, shaking her wrist, and fell against the van, sliding to the ground.

"That's quite a shot!" I admired, my voice slightly pained.

"And you've a sharp knife, Sir." her legs buckled as she tried to stand, and I noticed the spread of blood from a wound in her side. My reflexes were trained better than I thought. I pocketed the flick knife I carried, and helped her up. The thick nickel stench filled the van as I planted her in the passenger seat. Before driving off I dumped the goons on the concrete.

I woke up on an unbearably cold platform. The shining white light reflected off of every surface, even my pale skin. As I blinked away the blindness, something grew inside my stomach. A tugging and stinging that rose and rose until I realized what I felt was pain, and if it was pain I was still alive. I coughed a laugh and an excited voice by my feet declared I was alive. I blinked more, finding that I was on an operating table, with red-soaked bandage around my stomach. "Ouch," I mumbled sarcastically, as the agony spiked.

"Shouldn't you put her out or something?" asked an amused shadow.

The other man laughed "She's heavily concussed, I didn't want her to die!"

"I'm fine," I tried to sit up, but white gloved hands bleeding crimson stopped me.

"For now, you must lie down. You've been stabbed in the stomach, and I need to stitch your intestine up before it infects your body."

I laughed again "Well Izaya, seems you really did try to kill me!"

"You did this to her?!"

"It was a reflex action," he replied cooly, as though that explained everything. Though in fact in his case it really did.

I rolled my eyes, which made me unbelievably dizzy, and lay back down. "Can I

watch?"

"You should be unconscious! Never mind speaking! No you cannot." the surgeon tugged inside my stomach again, causing another raid of agony. I relaxed my muscles and ignored the pain. It's not real.

"I have always been curious about the art of healing," I began, but was interrupted by Izaya's musical laugh. "No really, why do humans reject it so thoroughly compared to war?" I shook my head and shrugged, inducing an irritated snark from the surgeon.

Izaya moved closer to the table, leaning over me, I realized that I was topless. "It's because chaos is much more engaging than control." he curled his lip at me.
Refusing to feel exposed or vulnerable, I retorted "However, this contradicts your existence, doesn't it? You manipulate everyone in this city, therefore reject natural chaos and inducing artificial versions controlled by you to suit your own childish desperation to be entertained." I remained neutral when the pain in my stomach increased as I spoke.

Izaya grinned wildly "Ah! But do I really? Or do I throw prompts forward which are either accepted or rejected by people of this city. Being able to predict reactions and events aids the planning of increased entertainment."

I laughed, and blood spawned up from my organs "Calm down!" cried the surgeon.

I ignored him. "but if these things are so easy to predict, then how can they possibly be random and chaotic? For example, if you kissed me spontaneously now, and inductively reasoned that my heartbeat would not alter in the slightest, and on experimentation it indeed did not, this is not a random act of chaos, this is careful control of an action, performed by you, and a reaction, or lack of one, performed by me. There is no possibility of an uncontrollable event occurring."

Izaya laughed brilliantly, before bending over my face "Oh? That's a curious example Miss." he murmured, sweet breath stroking my cheek, and fingers under my chin. He hovered over my lips for a lingering moment, before pressing himself to them. It wasn't a surprise. His warmth spread into my mouth, and I deepened the kiss, tilting my chin as his long fingers urged, I obeyed him. My lips parted under the guidance of his soft tongue, and I gently sucked his bottom lip. I felt a rumble in his throat, growl or laugh, I guessed laugh. I rolled my tongue around his mouth, exploring the mysterious man, and finding nothing. I felt his emotion, his love for all humanity, and though it disgusted me, I desired a small part of that passion. He stroked my cheek with his thumb, and I felt his teeth on my lip, teasing and tugging as his tongue flicked and sucked. It was strangely erotic. I hadn't realized Izaya would know how to seduce, though thinking about it, he was a master of manipulation.

As though sensing that my mind had wandered and lost interest, Izaya slowly pulled back. He gazed at me briefly, before curling his lip and turning on his heel, flitting out the room.

"That was incredible!" the surgeon exclaimed after a moment. "Your vitals remained completely normal! Even breathing and blood pressure!"

I laughed under my breath. "Emotion is separate from the body, just learn how to stop the body from reflexively expressing emotion. Just like how I stopped my body from sending signals of pain to my brain. Pain is purely the body's way of warning the brain to stop what it is doing because it is dangerous, but our physical manifestation is tougher than the brain believes."

The surgeon laughed happily as he stitched up my stomach "You two may be perfect for each other."

It was natural. The body needed release occasionally. It was natural after intimate contact like that. I stepped over to the couch and sat. My apartment was empty. It overlooked the flashing city like Olympus, and usually I felt slightly God-like here, but in this moment, I felt utterly mortal. An unusual strain of desire bunched inside my belly. I'd never felt this before, usually only huge amounts of power, being wrong, and watching Shizuo get his ass kicked excited me, but this girl- whose name I had ignored- had done it by touch. I remembered the tingling, swollen sensation of her steady suction on my lip. Odd. Very, very odd. I would grow bored, only intensely fascinating things kept me occupied for a length of time.

An explosive smash sounded from my front door. I jumped up and in a flash had cocked my gun ready to shoot. Izaya stormed through the dust.

We stared at each other.

I knew exactly why he'd come. "I don't have the-"

"for once I want you to be silent." he murmured, but I could hear him perfectly.

I stepped forward, but held my gun ready. "What do you-"

He closed the distance between us like the slamming of a door, and kissed me, shutting out my words. "This time, your body must feel," he instructed me "It must speak to me." his mouth trailed down my collar bone to the pulsing vein on my neck.

I laughed, "Make me then! My body and my mind are separated now."

He curled his lip, making me want to bite it again, wipe that smirk off his face. "I accept."

He stroked a long, pale finger down my chest. I noticed my silk robe had come slightly undone. Izaya bent his head over my neck, deeply sucking, kissing, moving further down until I felt his damp warmth on my breast. He paused, breathing warmth onto the spot, and then Izaya grabbed my hips and swung me down onto the couch like I weighed as much as a pillow. His body rested between my legs, my indecency thankfully covered by my robe. His kissed layered down beyond the dip between my breasts, to my navel.

The sensations were pleasant, but nothing triggered any response by my body. Izaya stroked his hands along my ribs. "I understand," he murmured, more to my body than me I think.

Suddenly he ripped my robe off of me. I gasped, and automatically tried to cover myself. I wasn't afraid of him seeing me naked, but my bodys response told Izaya everything he needed to know. He told me later that it was this that gave him the key.

He gripped my hands firmly, almost too firmly, and yanked them above my head, holding them there with only one of his hands. I made an indignant noise, and with a grin Izaya smothered my mouth furiously. I returned his kisses, the wild rolling of his lips and dipping nips formed a swirl deep inside my stomach. I paused, trying to figure out what it was, but Izaya was waiting for this sign, and plunged downwards. He licked-

*INSERT SEX SCENE HERE WHICH IS TOO NASTY TO REVEAL TO MY FANS WHO WILL SWOON WITH THE EXPLICT IMAGERY WHICH WOULD GIVE MY MOTHER A HEART ATTACK, ALONG WITH SEVERAL OLD LADIES AND BIRDS SHALL DROP FROM THE SKY WITH HEAT STROKE FROM THE HOTNESS AND SO SHALL ALL THE FISH FLOAT FROM THE OCEAN INTO THE SKY AND BE BURNED BY THE FIREY SUN! BECAUSE THIS SHIT IS SO HAWT YOUR BRAIN WOULD EXPLODE WITH THE SEXINESS AND SO WOULD YOUR UTERUS OR SCROTUM! LET'S JUST SAY ITS BETTER THAN 50 SHADES. WHICH ISN'T THAT HARD TO BEAT ACTUALLY. BUT THIS IS MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER.*

I woke brutally, the sound of my alarm bursting apart the hot humanity I'd dreamt. It was crazy. Why would I let myself lose control like that? In ANY situation, dream or reality? I rolled over and turned off the horrifying beeping. Ridiculous. I put it out of my mind. My routine continued as usual. Breakfast, tea, shower, dress. I wore bright tangerine chinos and aqua pointed court shoes, with a matching aqua blouse with no collar. More adventurous than I would normally choose, but the weather had finally turned into summer, and the shoes were stunning. I tucked the blouse in, and added a quirky orange button necklace and a white belt. My long brown hair went into a white scrunchied high ponytail.

Ikebukuro was swirling with energy. I felt the positivity moving like a soft breeze over everyone, and smiled to myself. It was beautiful days that showed how beautiful this city was. I bought an ice-cream while passing the park, and watched the fountain where children were splashing and laughing. It looked like divine fun.
I moved on past the park, finishing my cone as the wind lifted my bangs playfully. The streets were packed, but it wasn't difficult to pass through the innocent flocks. I loved being a part of their lives, just for a moment.

I walked until lunch, when I remembered it was discount day at the Russian Sushi shop, and grabbed take out. Waving and smiling to Kadota and his group as we passed. I sat at a bench by the square to eat, people watching and thinking about how wonderful Ikebukuro could be.

"May I sit here?" a man asked.

I smiled at my sushi. "Of course Izaya, you're welcome to."

He flopped down and waved his take out bag at me with a grin. "So you like Simons sushi too?" he laughed.

I grinned "Every discount day!"

He giggled and dug in to his lunch. I offered my left over soy sauce, he accepted.

"What brings you to Ikebukuro, Izaya?" I asked, leaning back on the bench and crossing my legs.

He chewed for a moment, watching my bobbing foot, and then swallowed "Just a routine business meeting Miss, nothing sinister!"

I laughed heartily "Everything is sinister with you, darling." I hadn't meant to call him so casually, but I hoped my ironic tone would pass onto the identifier.

"That may be true, Sweetheart," he jibed back "however, I enjoy the casual nature of non-homicidal meetings."

I popped a small clump of rice into my mouth, and sucked my finger, tasting sauce. "Well," I trailed off, my mind wandering away with the breeze.

The sun shone brightly, but we sat in the shadow of a skyscraper, and the air was chillier. I'd rolled up my sleeves in the park, and now goosebumps appeared on my arms. The tingle of hair rising up to insulate my skin made my arms tickle, and I rubbed them.

Izaya saw, and stood, packing away his sushi. "Come on," he commanded, but I obeyed anyway. It was too nice a day to be annoyed.

We walked together to a grassy area I'd passed before but never stopped at. He took off his jacket and flamboyantly laid it as a picnic blanket. "You didn't have to do that," I laughed "I don't mind sitting on the grass."

He folded with the elegance of a crane onto the jacket, and patted the space next to him. "Ah, but I wouldn't want to ruin our pants with grass stains! They are very hard to remove."

I sat, and tried to avoid letting our legs touch, which turned out impossible, and instead scooted opposite him so our crossed legs only barely brushed. Izaya seemed uninterested in my actions, which I liked.

We sat in peacefully silence. It was a long time, longer than I liked to think about, since I'd had a friend. Or even spoken to someone. Or had human contact. I remembered suddenly my dream, and jolted. Izaya looked up.

"Was that static electricity I felt?" he asked.

I shrugged "I don't like bees." I stated the unrelated fact to confuse him, but he curled his lip and finished off his sushi. "So was it static or bees?" he mumbled through chewing.

I smiled, but didn't answer, it didn't matter either way, I was just glad I wasn't dreaming.

Izaya smiled too, his thin frame was emphasized by his fitted navy shirt, I could see lean muscle under the fabric, and I had no idea what he was thinking.

A phone call woke me to tell me that the woman I was looking for was sighted in central Ikebukuro square. I'd just been with her. I'd felt her skin under my fingers, felt her passion and heat and sweat as we'd writhed and tumbled together, headed her moans, cries, felt the softness and wetness of her around my member, and now she was here. Not in my office, as I'd dreamt, but opposite me on my coat, wearing the most provocative ensemble she could have chosen, looking like all the things I loved about summer. The beach, blistering sun and heat, and wonderfully touchable cloth. After what I'd seen last night, I felt the small signs of her body, the shift in scent, especially. She smelt divine. A shock jumped into my legs as she brushed them.

Was it a sign? Was I meant to take her now? I desperately wanted that control over her again. But I was patient. Good things come to those who wait. And I was an excellent waiter.

"Hows your stomach doing?" I asked her, sneering. I'd marred that perfect skin, made it human and flawed, and how I loved humans.

She smiled back and pulled up her bright shirt, flashing smooth, pale skin until the purpling scar showed under her diaphragm. "It's fading very well, I think I'm going to miss it, scars are so mortal." her eyes questioned me, asking if I understood. Only too well, her words made me grow slightly hard, the humanity of wounds were almost irresistible.

"I would be delighted if you would allow me to ruin you again." I flashed a lopsided grin, only half joking.

She quirked an eyebrow, "I'm no masochist, Mr Orihara, though there is something dreadfully seductive about a blade."

A girl after my own heart, I was proud that she skimmed over my innuendo. I smiled and lazily flashed my knife out of my pocket, flicking it out and pointing it at the woman only few feet from me. "Is that so, Miss?"

She followed the movement of my weapon easily, her eyes trained and attentive, but her body didn't react to the danger, and she watched my face instead. "I find it surprising that with all your resources and intelligence, you still have yet to discover my name."

She had me there, though investing all my focus into the discovery of her NAME seemed like a ridiculous waste of resource. I told her so, adding "Besides, why should

I hunt, when I could ask you in person, where I much prefer."

The woman shrugged "to prove that you can? I don't care." she winked and stretched her arms above her.

I rolled the knife along my cheek. "So madam, may I ask your name, and receive an honest answer?"

"You may," she replied, grinning like that sun "Risa, is my name."

I laughed "And no surname?" I tossed the knife in the air and it landed in the grass point down near her right hand.

"No surname." she pulled the blade from the ground and stroked the sharp edge across her arm to clean the dirt off. "Risa is all I have, don't wear it out!" she laughed at the colloquial saying and stood, brushing the dirt from her palms. They were indented with delicate lines from the grass, as though her palms folded over and over in those creases.

Suddenly, this new fact awakened a thirst in me, I needed to know her. "I don't suppose you'd agree to drinks or dinner this evening at my place?" I asked her- Risa.

She shrugged subjectively "Which is it? Drinks or dinner?"

I curled my lip "Both, I am an excellent chef."

She pondered for a moment, and counted on her fingers up to seven "Yes, that would be lovely thank you, Izaya." she bobbed her head in a small bow.

"See you at seven, at-"

"I know where you live, tell the doorman I'm expected." how did she know? "And I'm a pescetarian, so no meat that doesn't live in the sea please." I knew this already, and gave her a knowing smile.

"That much was obvious, Dear," I murmured, moving close after retrieving my fur-lined jacket from the grass. There was an indent from where we'd sat. "I know the perfect thing!" I took her hand and brushed the back with my lips "Have a wonderful day!" I danced away, not bothering to look back.