The Blossom and the Monster

The young girl walked nervously around the streets of Ikebukuro. Sakura Haruno seemed like and average 19-year-old girl, although she possessed short, pink hair that was pretty unusual. But she wasn't normal, aside from being very unusually athletic, achieving the black belt in martial arts when she was only thirteen, she had incredible strength, she could shatter whole cliffs if she wanted to, the strength was in her legs as well, allowing her to leap to great heights. That wasn't all though, she was gifted with healing powers as well, being able to heal things in seconds that would usually take months to heal if left on its' own. But there was a problem, she had a short fuse and once had snapped and nearly destroyed the gym while playing volleyball when a girl from the opposing team purposely spiked the ball onto her face, she tore the net from its' base and threw it at the benches where people were watching. Luckily no one was hurt, but after that incident, her own friends began to avoid her. After graduating from high school, she decided to move to start anew. Her parents suggested Ikebukuro, she had asked many times why, but they simply said that was the best place for her to be. She decided to trust them and had moved a month later.

Sakura looked around as she walked.

Why this place of all places? she wondered, it can't be any different from any other place, can it? Then again, I just moved in yesterday, so I should just wait and see I guess.

She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice the person in front of her and bumped into him.

"Oh, sorry about that." The boy turned to look at her, a large smile spread across his face.

"Well hello there, your not from around here, are you?" he asked as he took her hand and kissed it. Sakura blushed as she pulled her hand away.

"Uhh, no, I'm not." The boy seemed to be in high school, his hair seemed to be dyed blonde, his eyes a bright yellow color, he seemed to be the overly-friendly type, although maybe he was only towards girls. He introduced himself.

"The name's Kida Masaomi."

"I'm Sakura Haruno."

"Well Sakura, you're lucky to have run into me." She narrowed her eyes.

"Oh? How's that?"

"I know anything and everything about Ikebukuro."

"Is that so?" Before Kida can assure her, another boy came up behind him.

"Kida, you said you were going to the bathroom, what are you doing here?" he whined. This boy also looked to be a high schooler, short hair was jet black and he had blue eyes.

"Awww come on Mikado, I just ran into this lost lamb and I thought I should help her."

"Huh? Oh!" Mikado said when he saw Sakura.

"Um, you are?"

"I'm Mikado Ryuugamine."

"Oh? That sounds like a name from a manga."

"Yeah, I get that alot," Mikado rubbed the back of his head, then he turned his attention to Kida, "hey, we should get going."

"Oh fine, see ya around Sakura!" Kida waved as he walked away with Mikado.

Heh, seems like Mikado has his hands full with that Kida. Sakura thought as she went her way.

Sakura's stomach began to growl after some time of exploring her new home.

Hm, I wonder if there's a place to eat around here. Maybe I should've at least asked Kida about any good restaurants.

She sighed and kept on walking until she ran into a large, black guy with a deep Russian accent handing out flyers.

"Hey, long time no see! Come in to Russia's sushi. It good sushi!" Sakura jumped at the sudden encounter.

"Yikes! Who are you!"

"Oh sorry, I'm Simon, come in, sushi really good," he gestured at a sushi restaurant that was behind him.

"Sushi? Ok, I'll give it a try." "Good, you wont regret decision!" and Simon turned back to his job handing out flyers.

Seating herself at a table, Sakura ordered some fatty tuna. When she was served, she took a piece with her chopsticks and popped it into her mouth.

Mmmm, this is really good. She thought as she shoved another one into her mouth.

"It good no?" Sakura nearly leaped out of her seat.

"Simon! What are you doing here!" she asked when she recovered from her shock.

"I wanted to see how new resident is doing with the sushi."

"Oh, you can tell that I'm not from around here?" Simon nodded, "what gave it away?"

"You have pink hair, not see that every day."

"Oh, well I was born this way, I can't change that." After her little chat with Simon, Sakura finished her tuna and left the restaurant.

This place sure has some interesting people in it, I wonder what else is in store here? Suddenly, she heard people screaming and running for their lives past her.

"Huh! What's going on!" she asked no one.

"Run for your lives!" someone shouted. Sakura managed to get a man to stop running and asked, "Hey, what's going on! Why are you people running!" The man was barely able to answer.

"It-it-it-it's Shizuo H-Heiwajima!" he screamed out before running away.

Shizuo Heiwajima? Who's he? All of a sudden, just inches from hitting her head, a vending machine flew past, skidding on the pavement before crashing into a building. Sakura's eyes grew in disbelief.

W-was that a . . . vending machine? Then a man ran past her, but there was something interesting about him, he was laughing as if this was all just fun and games, he had black hair and wore a fluffy hood. His eyes met hers for a minute as he turned to look back, he smirked and kept on running.

Who?

"IIIIZZAAAAYYAAA!" an angry voice roared. Sakura looked in the direction of the voice, there was a man with blonde hair in a bartender outfit . . . holding a street sign as if it were nothing but a stick! Sakura could only stare in disbelief.

No way. Someone else with the strength I have? Blinded by his rage, the man threw the sign at Sakura's direction.

"Gah! Young lady, get out of the way!" someone shouted, trying to warn Sakura. She got into a position, and when everyone thought she was going to be hit, she caught the sign. Sakura knew that she was being stared at, after all, she just stopped an attack from the strongest man in Ikebukuro. She put down the sign and looked around, she was right, people were staring from different directions. Even the man, who she now assumed was Shizuo, who threw the sign was staring.

Oh no, I did it again. Sakura turned tail and ran before she could be confronted and bombarded with questions.

Despite being curious, Shizuo made no move to run after the girl with the pink hair who actually caught the sign he threw.

What the? What's going on? He shook off the question, knowing he would hopefully run into her and ask her himself. He turned around and walked away, knowing that he had to meet up with Tom soon.

"Hey Shizuo!" Tom greeted when he saw him.

"Hey Tom." They walked side by side in silence for a while. Tom broke it.

"Hey, I've been hearing things lately."

"Does it have anything to do with a pink haired girl catching the pole I threw." Tom was dumbstrucked.

"How did you know?"

"Cause that's something you don't see everyday, someone just catching a pole I threw without being hurt."

"Who do you think she is?"

"How the hell should I know? Although she looks like she just moved here or something like that."

"But this is something, someone with the same strength as you, not to mention it's a girl." Shizuo slightly glared at his friend.

"And what's THAT supposed to mean?" Tom innocently looked away.

"Oh nothing."

Sakura ran and ran into dark alleys until she couldn't run anymore. She stopped to catch her breath.

Great, barely my first day out and people are already knowing about my strength. She leaned against the wall, looking up to the sky.

But, then again, there's someone else who is as strong as me out here, and he doesn't seem to hold back or mind that the people know of his strength. Suddenly, before she knew it, Sakura was suddenly surrounded by at least thirteen guys claiming to be in a gang called 'The Dollars.'

"Yo, you just stepped into our turf sweetheart, and we never let anyone off, although," the guy who was doing the talking walked closer to Sakura, "maybe we could let you off if you show us a good time," he began to wrap his arm around her waist. Sakura immediately noticed and gave him an upper cut to the chin while shouting, "Keep your hands off me you pervert!" her attack knocked him out cold. Seeing their fallen comrade, all the other guys charged forward with sticks and wooden bats. Sakura just deeply sighed as she easily dodged a blow from one of the guys.

"Seriously, is this all you guys got?" she asked, dodging another attack. She tugged at her leather, fighting gloves that she always wore, "Now it's my turn." With incredible speed and strength, she took down everyone of the punks one by one. As the last one fell, she dusted her hands off.

"That'll show ya." She suddenly heard some clapping behind her.

"My, that was impressive~!"

She turned around, there was the man with the fluffy jacket, the one who seemed to be running away from Shizuo.

"Look, if you're gonna be asking me questions, forget it," and Sakura leaped into the air, landing on top of a five-story building. She sighed with relief, thinking that she had completely lost him.

"I'm still here." Sakura turned in shock.

"Wha-! How did you!"

"You're not the only one around here who's . . . special."

"Really?" A smile began to appear on her face, surprising the man, "so this place really is perfect for me!" The man had a confused look, but it quickly went back to his usual smirk.

"Heh, so it is. Oh pardon. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Izaya Orihara."

Izaya? Sakura remembered that was the same name Shizuo was screaming when he threw the vending machine.

"Nice to meet you, I'm-"

Izaya cut her off. "Sakura Haruno. Am I correct?"

"Huh? How did you know?"

"I'm an informant, collecting information is my job, I got your name from Simon when I went to the Russian sushi place for lunch, until I was interrupted by Shizu-chan."

"Shizu-chan? Oh, you mean, Shizuo Heiwajima?"

"Correct."

"What's with him? Why does it seem like he's trying to kill you?"

Izaya's smirk got bigger.

"I'll tell you, but it's gonna cost you."

"Eh!"

"Hey, giving information is my job you know."

"O-k, how much is it gonna cost me?"

"Buy me lunch, and I'll tell you everything. Thanks to stupid Shizu-chan, I didn't get to eat."

"Hmm, fair enough."

Izaya gobbled down some pieces of tuna before telling Sakura anything she wanted to know.

"So, you want to know why Shizu-chan is trying to kill me?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the answer is simple, he hates me, and I hate him."

"Huh? But why does he hate you?"

"I don't know, he just does, but I don't mind or anything, it's fun messing with him."

"Oh really, with an attitude like that, he'll seriously kill you someday."

"Heh, I'd like to see him try, he's been trying to kill me ever since we first met, in the first years of high school."

"I see."

"Now Sakura, there's something I'm curious about you." "Huh?"

"What's with the strength you have? It's not everyday we find someone who can take a hit from Shizuo and walk around like it never happened, well, maybe expect Simon."

"Oh, well, I was just born this way, I'm not sure why I have this power, in fact, it's not the only power I have."

"Oh?" Izaya leaned on the table, getting more curious about this girl, "and what would that be?"

"I also have healing powers."

"Uh-huh," he pulled out what looked like a flip-knife, "show me," he flipped the knife and without warning, cut his palm. Sakura reached out, gently touched his cut, a bright, green light shone from her hand, it enveloped the wound, and when the light faded, Izaya's cut was gone.

"Convinced?"

"Very," Izaya carefully inspected his hand, making sure it didn't hurt, "and if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in Ikebukuro?"

"I live here now, back where I come from, people avoided me and I got worried on how my life would end up if I stayed there. So, my parents suggested that I move here, and now I can see why."

"Hm, interesting."

"Hey, what can you tell me about Shizuo?" Sakura just had to know about the man who possesses the same super strength as she did.

"Well, he works as a body guard for a debt collector name Tom Tanaka. He's got a really short temper, but I'm pretty sure you've figured that out already."

"Yeah, anyone would notice if they were being chased by a guy with a vending machine." Izaya's phone began to ring, he checked the caller I.D. before saying, "Well, I've gotta bounce," he stood up from the table, "it was a pleasure meeting you, Sakura, I hope we can meet again."

"Uh, yeah, it was nice meeting you too."

Sakura headed home, it was getting late and she knew that the streets weren't safe at night if gangs picked fights during the day. At her apartment, she thought of the day as she got ready for bed.

My first day here sure was something. I met some interesting people, Kida, Mikado, Simon, Izaya . . . Shizuo. Not only that, but it seems this town is known for the unusual people, this really is the perfect place for me. Her thoughts focused on Shizuo.

He has the same kind of strength that I have . . . Shizuo. As she looked into the mirror, she found herself blushing at the thought of him. She splashed cold water in her face.

What am I thinking! Guess I'm just really tired. After drying off her face, Sakura climbed to bed and drifted off into a deep sleep.