Shizuo didn't like being home for so long. He felt uncomfortable around his parents because of his insane strength and he felt that the house felt empty without Kasuka there. But Kasuka was busy shooting a movie as a peaceful alien that joins up with a group of humans to defend Earth against an evil alien invasion. In general, it was a dumb reason to skip out on their family meeting.

Shizuo's parents called him home to talk about something they felt was best to talk about in person. They refused to explain until he was there, and even when he arrived they put it off for the first half of his visit. It was only when he threatened to leave early if they didn't explain themselves that they finally dropped the bombshell. They wanted Shizuo to get married.

The blonde walked around the boring town his parents lived in and thought back to how hesitant they were to bring it up. His father defended himself by claiming that they thought it would be best for his infamy in Tokyo if he were to settle down. His mother was more direct, saying that her sister-in-law was bragging about how many of her children were already married with kids on the way.

"I want grandchildren!" she stated directly.

Shizuo had no defense. As he tried to argue that he didn't like anyone at the moment, his father said, "Love is something only young people value. Love comes with time, especially in marriage."

So he had been forced to agree to an omiai with his father's friend's daughter. He wasn't told anything about her other than that he would like her, which he doubted, and to be polite.

Shizuo growled and took out a cigarette. He needed something to calm him down, but refused to go drinking. The stupid omiai was scheduled for early that afternoon, an hour from the current time, and he didn't want to show up even buzzed from one too many drinks.

Something bumped into Shizuo from behind and he turned to see a woman with glasses. She apologized for bumping into him and made to continue on her way around him, but he stopped her.

"Ran?" he asked.

She adjusted her glasses to look at him and her eyes widened. "Shizuo-kun! Oh my! I can't believe I didn't recognize you! You… dyed your hair?"

Shizuo ran a hand through his blonde hair and ruffled it a bit. "Yeah… It stopped people from messing with me for a while."

"Not anymore?" she asked.

He grinned. "'Bukuro's tougher than you'd think now."

She smiled cutely and asked, "So what are you doing now? I heard that you'd been fired from your last job."

Shizuo shrugged. "I don't really want to talk about it. You'd probably think it was weird. Oh! You were on your way somewhere. Don't let me keep you!"

She beamed at him and said, "There's no rush. I want to catch up with you, Shizuo-kun. It's been years! How is your little brother doing?"

They continued talking for the entire hour Shizuo had left. They separated after that and Shizuo regretfully made his way to where he was to meet his father before the omiai. Ran was one of his best friends from middle school, since she was one of the few who weren't afraid of him. They'd gone to different high schools and now she was a florist working at her mom's old shop.

"There you are Shizuo!" his father complained when they finally met up. "You're late! Himura-san and his daughter are already inside!"

Shizuo shrugged and followed his father to his doom, not looking around or even curious as to who the girl he was meeting was. The name sounded familiar to him, but he brushed it off as having heard his father mention it before.

The blonde man sighed while listening to his father grumble about his hair and didn't look up when his father called out a greeting to the other party. He heard the two men talk but finally looked up to see the last person he expected.

"Ran?"

"Be polite, Shizuo!" his father lectured him.

The woman giggled and replied, "I'm as surprised as you are, Shizuo-kun. I guess both of our parents refused to tell us who our dates would be."

Shizuo almost blushed but said, "Well at least this won't be a boring evening."

Ran giggled. Her father was beaming at Shizuo's father, as if this whole thing was his idea. Shizuo's father was shaking his head, probably still upset about his gruff oldest son.

They spent the afternoon hanging out, their fathers leaving after an hour when it became obvious that they wouldn't try and run away. For Shizuo it was a wonderful chance to catch up with friends he thought were completely in his past.

Ran made it obvious that she felt the same way. She was interested in what he was doing but didn't press him, and was almost as curious about Kasuka, despite being able to get updates from magazines and fan-stalking websites. Then she asked after Shinra, having not liked him much because of his creepy aura but still respecting him as Shizuo's friend.

Shizuo had no secrets with her. She had been one of his favorite friends and now they could return to being that close again. It was perfect, until her father came back and ruined it all.


For the record, I don't normally create OCs for my fandoms. I normally reserve them for universes that are completely not in our own, like Pokemon or DBZ. But for DRRR! I have two: Ran, who's Shizuo's childhood friend with a bit of a crush on him, and Hiroko, who's Izaya's stalker and probably the only person he doesn't keep track of but should.