Namie Yagiri knew what it meant to be truly in love; it was to be selfless, devoted, and to put everything and everyone aside for the sake of her beloved, her brother, her Seiji.

But Mika Harima was ruining everything; she wasn't worthy of Seiji, no other woman was. So she had some plastic surgery; who cares? She tricked Seiji, and she's still manipulating him, stealing him away from the one who truly loved him.

It didn't matter that Namie had lost nearly everything and had to work for a person she loathed; in the end, she had no regrets. She did everything she had for Seiji's benefit and it wasn't like she was powerless.

Namie had her wits, her skills, and even with her business going under, she had connections. No doubt Izaya Orihara might have overlooked this and figured she had nothing, but it wasn't so.

"One word from me, one threat, one coercion, and I can have someone's life destroyed." Namie thought; her face held no remorse or compassion. "I have my own resources and even if I didn't It wouldn't matter. As long as I can help Seiji."

Her heart fluttered, but not long after, it stung; she knew her brother wasn't thinking of her. Truthfully, he wasn't even thinking of his "girlfriend". No, his true love, his own obsession, was trapped in a glass jar, hidden away in her employers other office on the other side of Ikebukuro.

Namie smiled bitterly. "And it'll stay there too. Hopefully I can destroy it all together someday."

For the time being, her mind was on another, more pleasant idea.

In her uncle's studies of the head, he had also come across various other oddities and artifacts from the black market to shopping purchases in his travels out of the country. Not too long after he had obtained the beautiful head, he had come into the possession of a love potion.

At first Namie had dismissed it completely.

There was no such thing as potions, magic, fairies, etc. The vial of "potion" was filled with a cloudy, light pink liquid, like strawberry milk or melted ice cream. Not worth her notice or time at all.

Of course, the head had also once been put into the same category of useless, if not odd, curios. Namie hadn't spared it much thought until the day she had touched it with her own hands and discovered it's warmth, it's vitality. It was as if it was still alive.

"Izaya said it belongs to that courier." Namie recalled. "She is a dullahan, a real fairy, a being that lives and moves without their head. If that's possible, than just maybe..."

She was sitting at her desk, holding the plain glass bottle of potion in her hand carefully; she had no idea what was in it. The merchant who had sold it to the underground, who had sold it to her uncle, had never revealed what the ingredients were.

All her uncle was told was that for the supposed potion to work, it would need to be ingested with the DNA of the person using it to make someone fall in love with them.

It was crazy, foolish, but Namie was desperate. She would do anything to keep Seiji by her side, even if it meant inducing feelings in him that weren't natural. It was for the best at any rate; Namie knew he would never be happy with that girl or with the dismembered head. They would never, ever love Seiji the way she did, never sacrifice so much, never nearly ruin themselves to ensure his happiness and safety.

Namie smiled softly at the thought of her brother finally realizing it was she who truly loved him; she stared at the bottle contemplatively. She needed a plan; no doubt Mika Harima would find a way to sabotage her efforts. She didn't trust Namie.

"I just need to add something of me into this; but what? Hair, saliva, a piece of skin?" Namie wondered; she wanted it to be something with a romantic undertone. "And how do I give this to him? I need to get Seiji alone, I don't want any chance of interference. Nothing must go wrong."

Suddenly, the ringing of her phone disrupted her thoughts. Namie looked and was disappointed to find it was just her alarm going off, not a text or call from Seiji. She hadn't heard from him in so long.

"Damn that Izaya." Namie thought angrily. The alarm was to remind her to pick up more supplies and fresh groceries. She was now shopping for both Izaya and that Chihiro girl, who insisted Izaya help with the food bill.

"Well, at least I don't have to cook for him much anymore." Namie sighed and slipped the potion away in her own personal mini fridge under her desk. Izaya was actually pretty generous in accommodating her, something she resented. No doubt he did it for that very reason.

She hid the potion behind her own drinks of green tea and iced coffee and took off to finish her task. The sooner she was done, the sooner she could set her plan in motion. It was only a matter of time.

Perhaps an hour after she left, Izaya had entered the office with a frown. Chihiro had postponed dinner until he had brought his own food for her to cook, and he was disappointed to see Namie had not returned yet from her chore.

"I'm starving!" Izaya thought as he stretched out in his chair; he spun around idly and flipped through some papers and checked his messages, but Namie still hadn't returned.

"She had snacks in her fridge didn't she?" Izaya thought suddenly; he strolled over to the mini fridge and popped open the door with a smile. "I'm sure she won't mind if I had something. If she wasn't so slow, I wouldn't have to steal her food."

Sadly, all she had was cold cans of tea and coffee and half a candy bar.

"Hold on." Izaya peered behind a can of coffee and saw what looked like a bottle of strawberry milk.

"Chi-chan likes this." Izaya remembered; he picked up the bottle and smiled to himself smugly. "If I bring her this, she might just make me something with her own food. I can't wait anymore."

He left and a half hour after his departure, Namie had returned.

"Where is he?" Namie said in frustration. She looked all around the office, but there was no sign Izaya had been there. With a sigh of defeat, Namie put away the food and sat back down at her desk.

"Now, what to do about this-" Namie's words stopped dead when she looked into the mini fridge. The potion was gone.

"No." Namie said in a near whisper; her eyes grew wide and she felt the urge to pull at her hair. "No, no, no!" she cried; Namie searched through the fridge, pulling out cans and throwing them to the floor carelessly, but it was no use. The potion was gone, stolen.

"That girl." Namie's vision turned red. "She said she had wiretaps and cameras everywhere. Could she really have them here? Does she know about the potion? Did she take it?!"

Namie's thought grew frantic and she threw her coat back on before storming out of the office with a text to Izaya that she had brought the food.

Over at Chihiro's apartment, Izaya was blissfully unaware of Namie's dilemma.

"No thanks." Chihiro said as he offered her the strawberry milk.

Izaya frowned. "What, you think I put something in it?"

"Probably." Chihiro turned back to the countertop; she diced the garlic cloves savagely for the pasta she had to throw together. She was mad that, once again, Izaya was freeloading off her food; did he think a bottle of possibly drugged milk would make it better?

"Come on, don't you trust me by now?" Izaya asked innocently; he held out the drink, waving it under her nose. Chihiro batted his hand away and scowled.

"I'm not in the mood. You drink it if it's not poisoned."

"Fine, I will." Izaya uncapped the bottle and downed the milk in a minute; he grimaced slightly when he was done. Chihiro looked at him curiously.

"What is it spoiled-ow, shit!" she hissed; the tip of her finger was bleeding slightly where she cut the skin. Chihiro groaned in frustration. "Look what you made me do! I've never had an accident cutting food before!"

Izaya took her finger and put it in his mouth without further delay.

"Hey!" Chihiro exclaimed jerking her finger away from his lips; she turned her back on him to hide her blush. "What the hell?!"

Izaya smirked. "Saliva is suppose to heal cuts you know. I'm not sure whether it matters if it's your own or not….."

Chihiro raised an eyebrow; Izaya's voice sounded listless, much different from his sharp, pleasant tone.

"Izaya?"

Before she could say anything else, Izaya had collapsed to the floor at her feet. Chihiro dropped her knife and fell to the ground beside him.

"Izaya?!"