Being Human
This is my first Durarara fanfic, and I hope that you like it! The pairing is love triangle, Izaya X OC X Shizuo.
I think my OC here is quite unique, and I really do hope that you like her, too!
Chapter 1
What is strength?
Imagine a very lively and bustling city. Not New York. New York is much less dangerous and much less strange.
I'll give you a hint. It's in Japan, for sure. Oh, you've already guessed? Too bad, I was hoping to stall for a little longer. I hate talking about scenery, and Ikebukuro might be pretty in a twisted fashion, sure, especially for a city, but I don't want to waste time talking about it.
My name is Athena, Athena Ai Muraguchi Taylor. If that makes much sense. It's just Thena for short. You can call me that. I don't especially care, since you'll probably get to me know better than any of the people I'll meet eventually anyway.
I don't know if I'm going to meet new people or not. But I will. If you go to a new place, then it will just happen. It's inevitable, unless you hide underneath your pillows all day and don't even go outside of your house.
That's why I was partially expecting the fight with a superhuman dude and a guy who had the nerve to wear a BLACK jacket in Summer.
But before we get to that, let's go into a bit more detail about me. I am a citizen of the U.S., lived there for my entire life. My family is there, and it always will be there.
But my mother is Japanese, nationality also being Japanese. I'm half and half, Japanese and American. Honestly, I couldn't care less about my race. I was proud of being half Japanese and being able to speak the language fluently, sure, and I was proud of my culture as well, but that didn't make me who I was.
It was part of my outside appearance. Though the 'being-completely-fluent' part helped a lot with anime. It sounds way better subbed.
So I graduated high school, went to college and got a bachelor's degree in education and another degree in History, making me qualified to teach History in a school.
So I did. But I loved writing and reading as well, and per my sister's demand and insistence that I was 'the best writer ever' I started writing a book, and successfully got it published.
People were calling me the next J.K. Rowling. I wasn't expecting any of it. There were a ton of gaps in my writing skill, and I hadn't expected the fact that so many people would love it.
I was pretty well off even without the teaching job. After saving up a little, I quit the job, and then decided to move to Japan, Ikebukuro to be precise, to get a breath of fresh air.
With all the stuff that I could carry excluding any furniture that would come later, I had been walking around, people-watching, and stopping by different places to have little snacks here and there.
I couldn't help but indulge. It had been a long time since the summer of my junior year, the last time I went to Japan to visit my grandparents, who were both now dead.
My aunt and uncle on my mother's side lived quite peacefully, and they're two sons were supposed to be quite successful in their own respective academic activity.
My brother had taken up video-game creation, and my sister was an computer programmer. We were all one big happy family, and my sister was almost engaged.
(The reason being that we all knew she was going to get proposed to eventually but she was the only one who didn't get it.)
My brother was already happily married with Suha, who we all agreed was whipping him into shape quite well.
Me? Well.. I was single, have only had one boyfriend in my entire life, never been kissed, still a virgin, and quite content with all of it.
So that was who I was, Athena Taylor, walking down the streets of Ikebukuro to quickly find my new address, when I saw the crowd ahead of me part very quickly.
Curious, I shrugged my way through the nervous throng of people to see a steaming stop sign crushed into the sidewalk. I winced. That must have taken a superhuman to throw-
"I~ZA~YA~!" A creepy and masculine voice drawled out, coming through from the crowd. People instantly made way for the raging male, who was chasing a..
Eskimo guy? It's practically a crime to wear a black coat in the summer, especially in Tokyo, Japan!
In fact, he was wearing ALL black! Black furry coat, Black shirt, black pants, black shoes.. Spiky black hair, and... Startlingly bright ruby red eyes and vampire worthy pale skin.
His movements were fluid, graceful, and incredibly fast. I saw a flash of silver as a switchblade was revealed and he rounded to a stop to face the incoming...
Bartender? Why the bow tie and the black vest and the white dress shirt and the black dress pants?! Though the blue shades were admittedly kind of cool.
The messy dirty blonde hair and tanned skin, plus the cigarette sticking out of his mouth, just screamed sexy bad boy. And I wasn't even that type of fanatic.
As they started exchanging verbal blows and the bartender got ready to pick up the sign stuck in the ground, a little girl, no older than 3, ran out of the crowd.
Someone that was undoubtedly her mother cried out and then pushed a hand to her mouth. Couldn't really blame her for being terrified, especially with those weird people facing each other, but still!
No one should have more love for their child then their own mother. Dropping all my luggage, I raced out into the opening, an captured the little girl safely into my arms before either opponent could move.
She wiggled and squirmed around until I fished out a lollipop in my pocket and gave it to her. The entire crowd went silent. You could have heard a pin drop. The little girl giggled, and I brought her to her mother.
With tears in her eyes, she thanked me breathlessly, and then melted into the crowd. The passerby stayed silent, as if waiting for something.
I threw my backpack over my shoulder, picked up my suitcase, figured out which general direction I had been heading, then looked back, and said loudly,
"Both of you are arrogant selfish f*****."
The crowd's whispering resumed, and I headed off to my new address, as if nothing had happened at all.
Later that evening after I had unpacked what I'd brought with me, I checked my messages on my iPhone.
Did you hear that the infamous Izaya Orihara and Shizuo Heiwajima got into a fight AGAIN!?
I smiled. Ana, a friend from my high school days, had lived in Ikebukuro much longer than I had, and was most certainly more knowledgable about the city then I was.
She also had a habit of starting conversations without explaining things first. Sure enough, another text dropped in.
Oops, sorry. I did it again!
You sure did.
Well, Shizuo is the strongest guy in Ikebukuro, and Izaya is an informant and the smexiest man alive!
Someone has a fangirl crush, eh?
It's not just that, though. They're sworn enemies! I can't remember the last time things didn't go flying when they saw each others faces!
Seriously? Why don't they just reconcile?
I think it's kind of Shizuo's fault. He can't help but try to kill Izaya. Which would be a shame, because that pretty face is too fine for a death just yet!
That was mildly interesting, I thought with a scoff, and then realized that Shizuo had absolutely no control over his own amazing strength which could be used for so many different things that could help people!
Hey, Thena?
Ah, sorry. Something came up. I'll text you later.
TTYL, then.
I shut off my iPhone with a click. They were both just what I'd call them, and I didn't like swearing. I'd sworn I might have even blushed after saying it!
I put the phone on the charger and then laid down on my sleeping bag, staring at the blank, white ceiling.
I wonder what tomorrow would entail? Only time could tell. So hurry up and sleep.
What is strength? Is it muscular power? Is it the ability to control and manipulate?
Now ask yourself this, right now, right here.
Is it more impressive to you that someone punches someone in the face, or when someone stops that punch right in front of his nose?
Being able to have control over your own strength must be the greatest thing of all.
Because it requires a great deal of self-control, and a lot of courage and humility.
Why does it take all things? You ask me.
I only gave you one answer, and with this type of question, there's always another.
The world is infinite. The possibilities are endless.
But it's all gotta start somewhere.
And this time, it's from you.