Below, I watched as people began to move slowly through the morning sun. Mainly business men and openers rushed to open the doors to their stores and to important meetings.

It had only been a month since my sister and I moved to Ikebukuro from the small, Japanese country side. There were so many people, so many things to do, so much crime.

"Marzia! It's time to wake up." I laughed slightly at my sister applaudable goal of getting me up on time every day. It wouldn't be so bad if the insomnia that has plagued me for the past couple of weeks didn't already have the upper hand. The tiny apartments that we had to squeeze into didn't help at all, with the constant noise of the neighbors. I didn't know how Cecil slept through all of it.

"Yeah, I'm up." Shuffling through the tiny closet space that was my room, I was able to get out a clean uniform and find my bag.

In the kitchen, she stood with her long, orange hair pulled back to keep it out of her face while she cooked breakfast. Even while living in Japan, she still gave me flavors of home with preparing a latte and biscotti. Can't go a day without something Italian.

"Glad you are up! Did you get you homework done?" Cecil turned to me with a sweet smile on her face.

"Ah, yeah of course." Sis knew I didn't, but she continued to smile anyways.

"I packed a lunch for you. I hope you don't mind last night's left overs." She spoke as she took a pan from the sink and began to dry it. Of course I didn't, but saying it would make me a broken record.

"Thanks, heading off now." I grabbed the lunch and stuffed it in my bag before heading out. Cecil just waved goodbye as I slipped on my shoes and ran out the door. It was still a bit early for school, so I have convinced my sister that my morning activities where a club.

She didn't need to know what kind of club it was or that it wasn't even in school.

Jogging through Ikebukuro, I saw two familiar heads sitting in the park.

"No way! I totally saw that coming. Nobody can defeat-… Oh hey Aki!"

"Hey Walker, Erika. Got anything good today?"

"Hell yeah we did! Scored big time. Got a collector's edition figurine of Sebastian!" I couldn't help the shock from my face.

"How the hell did you get that sexy butler!?" I yelled while Walker laughed sheepishly.

"Some couple was fighting and the girl threw out all of the guy's anime and video games stuff in the garbage of my apartment."

"Damn, lucky bastard. So has anyone made any noise this morning."

"Nah," Erika said while looking up from the manga in her hands. "The usuals are probably a sleep."

"And I thought I was gonna get some good pictures today. Well, see you guys later." I waved at them before making my way to school. The stares that I got from others were so annoying at times. Not only because I was a foreigner, it's also because my sister was the English teacher at school (well, one of them anyways). There was nothing more disgusting than be sitting in class and having the boys in class oogle your sister, who is trying to convey the important of sentence structure when writing in English. I will always prefer Italian, but I have yet to meet anyone who speaks Italian in Ikebukuro.

The day went on like usual. Math, science, social studies, lunch, P.E, English, and art.

I hate school. Takes away time that I could be scouring the city, looking for crimes and kicking bad guy butt. This was a common thought in my head as grabbed my things from my desk and headed out the door.

"Hey there beautiful. Where are you going?" Turning with a grin on my face, I looked at Masaomi Kida. He was a cute freshman who stated hitting on me as soon as I got to the school. He also is constantly telling me how beautiful my sister is and asks me if she is single. As annoy as that gets, I can tell it's all in good heart. It makes Cecil laugh.

"Just out. Hey, this your friend you were talking about?" I noticed a rather shy looking boy with dark hair and blue eyes.

"Yeah, this is Mikado Ryugamine."

"Wow, now that's a name! I love it. Mind if I use it someday?" I grinned.

"Ah! What do you mean?" He asked, his voice stumbling over his words.

"A good detective always has an alias and your name is amazing!" I couldn't but squeal at the anticipation of using an alias. The name is Mikado Ryugamine, Detective Ryugamine.

"A detective?" Mikado seemed perplexed.

"Yeah, Marzia here is an inspiring detective." I grabbed the little blonde and started to give him a noogy. "Hey! Quit messing up my due! How am I suppose to ask Whelan-sensei out if I have bad hair?" That's when I started to pinch his cheeks.

"In your dreams. You would need to grow a couple more inches. My sister likes tall guys."

"Hey! I'm taller than you!" We continued our little show while Mikado watched on and other people stopped and stared.

"My, what do we have here?" I stopped trying to pick Masaomi up when I heard her voice.

"Well if it is the beau-"Nudging Masaomi in the ribs, I stood up straight.

"H-hello Whelan-sensei." As much as my sister hated the formalities, there wasn't much she can do. She smiled at Mikado and nodded to him in return.

"Hello there Mr. Ryugamine. I was just coming up here to give Mr. Kida something." Cecil handed Masaomi over a thick packet of papers. "Good luck." I heard her whisper and Masaomi grinned. When I tried to look at what she gave him, he held it away from me, stuffing it into his bag.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Mikado." I said, yawning while stretching out my arms. Walking towards my sister, I knew it was grocery day. I didn't like my sister to go grocery shopping alone. "See ya latter guys!"

"Bye beautiful." My mouth twitched.

What an adorable little creep. I thought as we made our way out of the school. The clear day and crowded city were a nice combination in my opion. As we wiggled our way through the streets, I watched out for the fable Black Rider or Shizuo Heiwajima. The more pictures for my collection, the better.

"What should we have tonight? How about some pasta? I hope they have some tomatoes. Maybe I should add chicken… or shrimp! How do you think that sounds Marzia?" I shrugged as Cecil began to name off more things to make. When we got to the store nearest to our apartment, Cecil was greeted by the cashier in the front right away. He clearly had a crush on my sister, so I glared at him with all I could, causing the young male to flinch away.

Mosing my way through the store, I stopped when I heard a loud crash. A grin split my face as I turned on my heel and ran out.

Through the sky sailed a large, blue colored vending machine. I grabbed my bag and ruffled through it until I found my camera. Looping the strap around my neck, I ran towards the source of the catapulted machine.

There he stood in all his glory.

Shizuo Heiwajima, the strongest man in Ikebukuro. Using a nearby trash can, I crouched down and began to snap pictures of the enraged blonde. A name ripped from his mouth as he roared, grabbing a stop sign and flinging it across the street.

"Awesome!" Turning the camera to me and switching on video mode, I started my intro. "This is the God of War signing in for the chaos report. Looks like the strongest man has gone into rage mode and has blasted away his enemy with and AABBA UP combo! Let's continue to watch and see if anything new will happen." Turning the camera back to him, I just caught Shizuo running down the street.

Sighing, I turned off my camera and stood up.

"If it isn't Shizuo's stalker." I heard a male voice from behind me.

"I preferred to be called an admirer," I said, turning to see a man with brown dreadlocks and a suit. He sighed, shaking his head at me.

"You really need to get a different hobby." Tom was his name. The first time I saw Shizuo the day after getting to Ikebukuro, I was hooked on documenting this man. Something about him drew me towards him. I met Tom that day too. He caught me taking pictures as Shizuo threw a vending machine at a guy wearing a fur trimmed coat. He didn't say anything about it, not until he caught me for the twelfth time did he talk to me.

He asked what I was doing. I said taking pictures. He just looked at me with my cat beanie and skateboard and shook his head. A few meetings later we introduced ourselves to each other and he asked me if I was ever going to quit.

No.

He then told me he wasn't responsible for what could happen if Shizuo found out.

"Why bonjour there sugar Whelan. How have you been today?" Sighing, I knew that voice all too well.

Mai Kushino was the music teacher at school and a friend of Cecil's. She also was a foreigner, I believe from France who was part Japanese. She had dark brown hair, always in ponytail and her dark skin was perfect. She seemed to notice Tom, and gave him a pearly white smile.

"Hello, I'm Mai Kushino, this one's music teacher." Tom smiled and they shook hands. Ignoring the old people, I tried to see if I could get a shot of Shizuo from my current spot. "Ah petite femme! Don't be troubling your sister now." Mai said goodbye, then left.

"What's your teacher's favorite coffee shop?" Tom asked me out of the blue. Coming out of my focus zone of looking through my camera, I turned to him slowly.

"Miss Kushino's? She always has coffee from Mushi's. Why?" He didn't say anything, so I shrugged it off. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and knew Cecil was wondering where I was. "Merda! Sis is gonna be pissed. Gotta go!"

Running through the crowd, I made it back to the supermarket in time to catch Cecil walking out with her arms full of bags.

"There you are!" She exclaimed, her brows furrowed upwards and worry in her eyes. "Don't run off like that!" Taking the guilt that I made her worry, I helped take some of the bags and we headed home. "I kept hearing these loud noises while shopping. What do you think they were?" I told her I didn't know.

Cecil didn't know Shizuo Heiwajima or the Black Rider because she didn't like to listen to gossip. When anyone would be whispering about these seemingly mythical creatures, she would turn her head and tune them out.

When we got home, Cecil decided on pasta and set to making it. I, on the other hand, went to my room and turned on my computer.

~*~GodofWAR~*~ has signed in.

Taro Tanaka has signed in.

Setton has signed in.

Taro Tanaka: Hey guys. How's it going?

Setton: Not bad, how about you?

Taro Tanaka: I've been good. WAR?

~*~GodofWAR~*~: Amazing! I just saw Shizuo Heiwajima throw a vending machine!

Taro Tanaka: What?! When?

~*~GodofWAR~*~: Just not too long ago, I tried to get closer but couldn't.

Setton: It's best if you didn't.

~*~GodofWAR~*~: But he is soooooo interesting!

"Marzia, can you help me for a second?"

~*~GodofWAR~*~: brb

~*~GodofWAR~*~ has gone on Away

Getting up, I went to help Cecil as she worked to make the noodles. The noodles in Japan just didn't work for Italian pasta. It was about an hour before we finished and ate. When I returned to the chat room, I saw that Kanra had signed in. I didn't like whoever it was.

Kanra: WAR! I missed you

Kanra: Don't ignore me

Kanra: Waarrrrr

Kanra:

I didn't wait to see the message before I signed off. Whoever Kanra was, they had been annoying me since the first day I signed into the Dollars Chat room.

Checking my emails, I found no replies from my crime blog that I started to pick up any cases.

Annoyed, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. Putting on my tabby cat Kigurumi onesie, I walked into the living room to see Cecil sitting down, working on grading. We did the usual night routine.

I layed on most of the couch and she took up a small corner. Watching the TV on low volume, I basically zoned out. When it turned 10:00PM Cecil shook me to tell me to go to bed. Trudging towards my door, I pulled it up and flopped down onto my small, twin sized bed.

I would lay there for some time, waiting to hear Cecil going to sleep. Then I would take the sleeping pills that barely worked and waited for them to kick in as the night life of Ikebukuro began to spring to life.

Merda: Is basically the Italian word for shit

Petite femme is little woman in French

They call Marzia, Aki because of her red hair.

Hope you like my lovely characters. Marzia and Cecil Whelan, Irish/Italian/German girls who moved to Japan so Cecil could teach English. If you want to read their bios, go to my deviantart WolfXSoul and it is under Durarara oc Marzia and Cecil.

It will help explain a lot. Please give me feedback if you want to see more from this.