Izaya crinkled his eyes in confusion, making his reading glasses slide down a fraction of an inch. What was up with this girl? For some reason Izaya just couldn't figure her out. Stupid female. Her data was mixed in everywhere, some was fake, some was real. Some didn't even make sense. Seriously? Age 34? With her writing style? She couldn't be more than twenty.

Lily Madenson.

That freak.

Izaya'd heard about the girl around town by pure coincidence. She was a famed otaku/internet idol that wrote fanfictions for a living, apparently. Every page paid her rent. She was new in town and lived somewhere near Shizu-chan, not exactly ideal living space, but sufficient. Apparently she'd started working at age seventeen for this teen website and her stories became so popular people offered to pay her for 75% of the copyright. Eventually that was ceased and the host website began to pay her on the condition she finished one book per year, each book being at least short-novel length. It was actually extremely profitable for her according to her banking data, so Izaya wondered why she lived in such a dump. He figured she might've been greedy or exponentially frugal, but he had no basis for his hypothesese.

Izaya wanted to meet this girl, to study and analyze her, to make her tick, make her twitch. He wanted to bathe in her laugh then make her cry. It irritated him to no end that this was a human of his he was not familiar with. It also intrigued him to why she might have fake information, why she was recorded as a 34-year-old named Olivia Gerard.

Heh, he scoffed to himself, another toy...this should be fun.

Izaya made it a point to learn about this girl and eliminate her, destroy her. After all, she was just another human. What was the big deal? He grabbed his furry coat given to him by an old..."friend," and left his high-class Shinjuku loft, expeditely heading towards his beloved city of Ikebukuro.

He sat on the subway train mundanely, impatiently waiting for his stop to come up. On the train with him was a suspicious-looking boy in a grey tracksuit with stripes down the sides and a man in a full black leather trenchcoat who had his hands furiously going over a keyboard. It was a strange sight, but Izaya barely registered it; he was too busy plotting things for Lily. Once the train intercom announced that they would be arriving in Ikebukuro, Izaya stood up immediately, his rash actions earning him a stare from the boy in the tracksuit. The information broker quickly exited the train and headed upstairs to sea level.

Once he felt that familiar air, smelled that familiar smell of trash and grime, he grinned, putting on his famous fake mask of glee. He dawdled through the streets, skipping happily. People avoided him for obvious reasons, but he paid the stupid humans no mind. This was Izaya Orihara's time.

He made his way to the mangy apartments of downtown 'Bukuro, admiring how stale and yellow the building was from age. Observing how the cheap wallpaper slowly peeled off the public hallway walls, Izaya made his way to apartment A15 where he would find his new toy. He could barely contain his mock excitement as he knocked on the door once, twice, three times. He only had to wait for a moment before the door opened to him, revealing the face of his target.

Lily Madenson was an inch or two shorter than Izaya, with red hair, a large grin, and warm hazel eyes. She was dressed like a teenager: hightop Converse, black skinny jeans, and an Artist vs. Poet teeshirt. Her hair was parted heavily on the left, making her bangs almost cover one of her eyes. Izaya was surprised; he hadn't expected a girl this pretty. Maybe an older lady, someone overweight, bad acne, something. But she looked completely normal, and it pissed Izaya off. Nothing yet. No dirt on her.

She glared at him. "Can I help you? You do realize that it's 6:30 A.M, right?"

Izaya laughed. "I'm fully aware. Actually, I came here to talk to you, Miss Madenson. Do you mind if I come in?"

She made a sarcastic gesture inside. "Knock yourself out. And please, call me Lily."

"As you wish~" the shady information broker sang, and entered the apartment. He was surprised to see how well-furnished it was and how nice the overall place looked. Very earthy feel.

Lily gestured over to the couch, allowing Izaya to sit before she took her place at the loveseat across the coffeetable. "So what is it that you want? Who are you?"

Izaya enjoyed her bluntness; most people were shy and afraid of him. He stuck his hand out in a greeting. "Izaya Orihara. I'm an information broker in Shinjuku."

Lily's eyes widened as she shook his hand hesitantly. "What, did a fan ask for info. on me? Cuz I'm not telling anyone about my goshdurn past relationships! Why does everyone keep bringing that up?"

Izaya's eyes widened a fraction of a centimeter. "Not at all," he said, "I just figure that it's part of my job to see the new people in town, especially such famous ones."

She nodded her head but still remained wary of him, her emotions painted obviously on her face. "Mm-hmmm..." she said skeptically. "So what exactly do you want to know?"

Izaya laughed a bit. "Well, Lily, I just want us to be friends. I think that you and I fit well together and that we'd make wonderful buddies. What do you say?" He paused for a minute before saying something else. "And don't think I'm trying to scare you out of money or anything, I'm well endorsed, I have no need for your finances."

Lily looked at the man once again, reevaluating him. To be honest, the first thing she noticed was his looks. Midnight hair that looked soft as a cloud, dark eyes that screamed danger, and a lean figure that just seemed to draw her in. His personality was also admirable: observing, never missing a beat. He kept right in tune with her and even seemed to play along when she threw him a tough question. She was quite impressed to be honest. Maybe they could be friends...but Lily knew from that moment that "friends" wasn't the right word...oh goshdarn, what was that word again? That phrase? Obviously she wanted to be "more than friends," which led to the realization that she had romantic feelings for this man she'd known a whole of five minutes. He just intrigued her so much, she couldn't help but be drawn in by his captivating voice and his dark, looming eyes.

"I can assure you I wasn't worried about that in the slightest, Mr. Orihara, I-"

"Please," he interrupted, "Izaya. My name is Izaya."

"Izaya," she emphasized, "I have a feeling you're a bit angry."

Izaya was astounded. How could she tell that he felt like ripping her TV out of the wall and throwing it across Ikebukuro? How could she tell that he was angry? Oh, God, this girl was even making him sound like that monster. He truly hated her now. He smirked. "Ah, how could you tell, Lily? You're so smart."

It was her turn to smirk now. "I've been told. However, I'm not going to ask why you're irritated; that's your own buisness." She paused for a moment. "So Izaya...do you watch anime?"

He looked at her in surprise. "A bit, whenever I find time."

"OOH!" she said, grabbing his hands in hers automatically, "Great! We really can be friends! Do you watch Heta-"

Izaya stopped listening after this point, because he was silently marveling at how soft her hands were. The sudden realization of the past events puzzled Izaya. He wasn't feeling angry anymore. He was amazed by this woman and how well she read him. He was the god of these people; he wasn't supposed to be readable. He was supposed to read and tamper with others, not feel himself be tampered with. He felt his heart grow tight when he touched her, his breah hitching the tiniest bit. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to crush those delicate cream hands or kiss them. He wanted her eliminated but at the same time wanted to draw her closer to him, only him. What did this mean? Why did Izaya Orihara of all people feel this way, like he wasn't independent anymore? Like he needed this stupid woman. He felt his face heat up a bit as he found his answer, something so surprising he almost didn't believe it. Gods shouldn't love. Gods can't love. Damn you, Lily, he thought, making me love someone like you.

He gripped her hands tightly and nodded, trying to reinclude himself in the conversation. Now it was her turn to notice how well their hands fit together, how good they felt together. Lily had an urge to just pull the tiniest bit to kiss the man, but resisted wisely. She knew how creepy that would be to suddenly kiss someone you barely knew. Especially someone as suspicious as Izaya.

They remained silent for a moment, just holding hands, until they realized what was going on and consensually jerked their hands back from the other, feeling their faces light up significantly. The couple silently cursed themselves before turning back to the lost conversation.

Izaya was pissed a bit at his newfound emotions; why did they have to exist? He was above humans; he couldn't love another. Maybe this girl was on his level, up there with the gods. He was doubtful but hoped so, for he would hate to shame his reputation by loving a human girl.

Izaya stayed there for hours, chatting and bickering with Lily, occasionally slipping in a few innuendos here and there. He enjoyed watching her laugh and blush at the perverted statements and decided that he could wait no longer. Before he lost the false courage provided by Beloved Mother Adrenaline, Izaya grabbed Lily swiftly by the waist and kissed her roughly, pouring his feelings into the embrace.

"Izay-hmph!" she said as their lips collided. She was shocked at first; what the hell was going on? Was Izaya really kissing her? She didn't want this dream to end! Before she lost her chance she lightly kissed back and soon got lost in the embrace, her head growing light and her mind racing as she tried to memorize every second of this.

Eventually the kiss ended and the two were left panting for air. Izaya was the first to regain his composure (of course) and grabbed a random magazine from the coffee table, taking out his glasses to pretend to read it. He couldn't bear to let Lily see the deep rouge that coated his face.

Lily quickly regained herself and looked at Izaya, now nonchalantly reading her Ink magazine like they had discussed the weather instead of passionately kissing. She grinned, walking over to Izaya's side of the coffeetable and kissing his cheek. "Ya know what, Izaya?"

"What?" he said, his face heating up slightly again but his gaze never leaving the magazine.

Lily giggled. "You look really hot in those glasses."