Hey, everyone. Dawn Stone Slifer here, with my first multi-chapter fic! I've been working on this fic for going on...four years now? I actually started in 2011 with the intention of keeping it a one-shot centered around the Saika Arc, but after a while, it just spiralled into this...And since this, obviously, doesn't start around the Saika Arc, it's pretty clear that I've done a fair amount of tweaking. Hey, a lot can change in four years.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and if you can, please leave a review! I love to hear your feedback!

~Dawn Stone Slifer~

Ikebukuro.

The city that never slept. The place where mysteries and legends seemed to mix with reality, twisting it into a dangerous yet charming city.

This was the place that I'd returned to.

It'd been five years; five long, painful years away from everything I knew. Five years of longing, fighting the urge to come back. But now, I was here.

And I wanted nothing more than to start afresh.

I glanced down as I felt my phone vibrating in my hand, and I couldn't contain my smile. I brought the phone up to my face, reading the notification quickly.

'You in town yet? I'm getting really impatient~~ (ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ'

I shook my head slightly, the smile on my face growing as I began to reply.

'Relax. I'm now coming. See you soon.'

I hit the send button, biting my bottom lip for a moment, before adding a few extra words.

'Also, change your handle name. Kanra is so five years ago, and you're not fooling me into thinking you're a girl.'

"Hana-chan! It's been too long!"

The familiar smooth voice met my ears, and I looked up, smiling warmly at the young man in front of me. His hair was pitch black and messy, and his eyes - brown with a reddish hue - shone with cunning and intelligence. They reminded me of a snake.

"It has, Izaya. Glad to see you haven't changed much. You're...taller than I remember, though," I mused, taking in his growth with curiosity. He smirked, his narrow smile mischievous, before looking me up and down with calculating eyes.

"Well, you haven't changed at all, Hana-chan! Still the same Hana-chan from high school! Although...you cut your hair off. What happened to the long hair from before?" he asked, his hand moving out to touch my shoulder-length strands of chocolate brown hair. I resisted the urge to flinch away, instead moving my head to the side, making my hair slip through his fingers.

"I got bored of it. Thought I'd change things up a bit," I shrugged, flicking my hair behind me in one swift movement.

"Hm...it'll take a bit of getting used to, but I guess it's okay," he shrugged back, still smirking. I sent him an unimpressed glare, before looking off down the street.

"What's the matter, Hana-chan? You looking for someone?" Izaya questioned, cocking his head to the side as he watched me. I spared a few more seconds of glancing at the street, before turning back to him, sending him an assuring smile.

"No one important. Now, you owe me a drink. It's time you started paying me back for all the coffee I bought you in high school."

"Aw...and I thought you'd forgotten about that," he pouted, his eyes gleaming with childish mischief.

"Not likely. You used to pester me everyday until I gave you cash. The amount of yen I've wasted on you and your coffee obsession over the years must be insane..."

"Well, I suppose buying you one drink couldn't hurt. The usual place?"

"So, Hana-chan, how were things after you moved away? You went to study abroad in America for a while, right?"

I nodded, taking a sip of coffee, shuddering slightly. I'd never been keen on the stuff; it was way too bitter for my liking. But, Izaya had ordered our drinks without even asking about what I wanted, so I decided to suck it up. At least he'd paid for it.

"Yeah, I did. I took a course in Film-making, and it was pretty cool," I answered, watching as the young man leaned back in his seat.

"Film-making, huh? Very interesting! Have you made any films yet?"

I snorted, shaking my head.

"Give me chance to get settled back into Ikebukuro first, Izaya. Then I'll start filming."

"Right, right...how long have you been back, anyway?"

"Two days. I started unpacking yesterday, but some annoying little asshole wouldn't stop hassling me over the chatrooms..."

Izaya laughed, leaning forwards and taking a swig of his own coffee.

"I was eager to see you, Hana-chan! You've been gone for five years, after all! A lot of things can happen in five years! I was interested to see how much you've changed! And you didn't disappoint, Hana-chan! You've changed a lot!"

"...I'm going to take that as a compliment and not as you being creepy, Izaya. So, thanks."

"Don't mention it," he sent me a sly grin, "anyway, what about your family? How did they feel about you coming back? It was because of them that you had to move abroad anyway, wasn't it?"

I flinched a little at his words, before brushing it off with a small smile.

"I...didn't really tell them that I was coming back. I'm a grown-up now, so I can go wherever the hell I want..."

"You mean you just dropped off the face of planet in their eyes? That doesn't seem like you at all, Hana-chan. You used to be so close to your family."

The way Izaya's voice changed told me how little he cared. I knew enough about his profession to know that he was digging for info. But, in this case, he was trying to dig in a place where he wasn't welcome.

Before I could politely tell him to butt out, I was interrupted by the shrill ring of a phone. Izaya sighed, rolling his eyes, before pulling said phone out of his pocket and answering it.

"Yeah...? Ah, why hello there~! No, no, not at all! I was actually wondering when I would hear from you..."

I sighed, tuning out Izaya's voice as I stared out of the window of the cafe and out onto the street. Nothing had really changed much since I'd last been here; a few of the stores had been renovated, and I was pretty sure they'd changed the layout of some of the lampposts (they seemed pretty new, like they'd only been put up weeks ago), but that was about it. It was...kind of refreshing to know that the city hadn't moved on much during my absence.

"...Hana-chan."

I turned back towards Izaya, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Hm?"

"I'm terribly sorry, but it looks like I'm going to have to cut this reunion short."

"Work, huh?"

"The job of an informant isn't an easy one~..."

I smiled, before narrowing my eyes at him.

"No rest for the wicked, right, Izaya?"

"Hey! That was mean, Hana-chan!"

I laughed, before motioning him away with my hand.

"I'm kidding. Oh well, it was nice seeing you, anyway."

"We'll have to meet up again, sometime, Hana-chan. There's still a lot I want to ask you, after all~"

His words almost made me shudder, but I held it in, instead sending him a sickly sweet smile.

"I'm sure there is."

"Right. I'll be off, then. I'll see you soon, Hana-chan. Oh! And welcome back to this chaotic city!"

And with that, he was gone; dashing out of the door and down the street, waving to me from the other side of the window.

With Izaya gone, I could finally breathe. I inhaled deeply, taking another swig of my coffee and cringing as the horrid liquid ran down my throat.

"What the hell...why am I even drinking this?"

The damp streets of Ikebukuro were a welcoming sight. It had stopped raining just before I'd left the cafe, so the air was fresh and cool as I took to the streets, taking in the scenery around me.

It was quiet, but that was probably due to the sudden downpour that had hit only minutes ago. People had ducked for cover in the nearby buildings, so the city seemed to have an air of peacefulness to it. Which was a nice change to the normally bustling place.

Puddles were littered across the road and on the brickwork pavement, and I watched as the city was reflected in the water as I walked by. Watching through the water, it almost looked like another world...

Of course, when I heard a loud smash and angry yelling, all thoughts of parallel worlds escaped me. I watched - once again through the puddle of water - as a large vending machine was thrown up into the air, completely trashed.

Well, that saves me trouble of finding him, I thought, a smile settling on my face.

I had originally planned on going back to my apartment to unpack, but now that I'd seen that flying vending machine, I couldn't stop myself from investigating.

As far as I knew, there were only a select number of people who could pick up vending machines and throw them in the air like that.

Turning a corner, I came face to face with a pile of debris. A bent stop-sign, a ripped open trash can. And, just as I was about to look away, the vending machine from before came hurtling down, smashing into the ground and creating a horrible grating noise against the concrete that made my ears ring.

Of course, there were other things besides all the broken shit in the middle of the road.

There were bystanders, obviously, standing and watching in shock and fear at the scene before them. There were a couple of guys dressed in yellow too, although they seemed to be the ones who had caused this display of power. They lay sprawled out on the street, knocked out cold. One of them looked like he'd even had a few teeth knocked out, too.

And then, there was the guy who'd lost his temper.

At first, I didn't spot him; my eyes searching for the body I remembered from five years ago. Lanky build, blonde messy hair, soft brown eyes, and that famous scowl that crossed his face whenever he was angry. And then I saw it. A blur of black and white stalking off down the street, hands in his pockets.

My smile grew.

I ran past the injured men and the mess of debris the man had left, ignoring the eyes of the civilians as I caught up with him.

I was closer now, and I could finally see him. The same messy hair, although probably a little longer than I remembered, the same pissed-off posture that I was so used to seeing. And the same lanky build, although he had grown a little; he was even taller than he had been, and it kinda annoyed me a little.

I reached out as I got closer, my fingers grazing the fabric of his dress-shirt lightly.

"Shizuo!"

The man whipped his head around, his eyes - barely visible through his blue-tinted sunglasses - narrowing and that familiar scowl plastered onto his face. He opened his mouth, most likely to yell some kind of profanity at me for grabbing him, but paused mid-breath when he saw my face.

There was a moment of silence, and I could almost hear the gears turning in his head as he tried to comprehend what - or rather, who - he was seeing.

"...Hana?"

Bingo.

I let out a small laugh, a large grin settling on my face as I nodded.

"Been a while, huh, Shizuo."

He opened his mouth, before closing it, his eyes staring at me in shock as he tried to wrap his brain around what was happening.

Feeling the confused and fearful stares of the people around us, I took his hand and began to drag him away. His body was sagged, so he didn't put up much of a fight; he simply let me pull him along, around a corner and onto a quieter street.

"...That's better. There's less people to watch us here," I murmured, nodding to myself in satisfaction as I glanced around me. My gaze soon turned back to Shizuo, and I watched as he slowly locked eyes with me.

"You okay? You look kinda shocked," I asked, my eyes narrowing slightly as I took in his wide eyes and rapidly moving jaw. He looked like a fish out of water.

"Kinda?" he managed after a while, his eyebrows furrowing, "More like very shocked. I didn't know you were back in 'Bukuro."

"Yeah, well, I haven't been back long. Only a couple of days," I answered, "And I've been busy unpacking all my boxes, so I haven't had much time to walk around Ikebukuro."

"Wait, unpacking? You're moving back here?"

My smile grew as I heard an ounce of what sounded like excitement in his voice - I wouldn't call the poor guy out on it, though; I didn't want to embarrass him - and I hunched my shoulders a little, my eyes closing as I gave him the toothiest grin I could manage.

"..Surprise."

I hope you enjoyed! You'll be finding out more about Hana and her relationship with the Raira graduates in the upcoming chapters, so stay tuned!