TWO: Trouble-Making Beauty

"Ah, so this was where ever popular Mr. President was hiding!" the door to the roof was slammed open and the boy lying on the bench pretended that he never heard the voice. "Orihara-kuuun!" the voice was getting louder and his footsteps were irritating. Still, he didn't want to get up. "Quit faking! The girls are being bothersome again!"

"Izaya!" he began shaking the boy, in attempts to get him to 'wake up.'

"Tsk," Izaya finally opened his eyes, "If you don't like them, just walk away from them, Shinra."

"I did!" Shinra exclaimed as he pushed his glasses up his nose, "Izaya! You hide up here for lunch every day! Don't you have duties as class president?"

Izaya groaned as he rolled onto his side and tried to drown out his best friend's annoying voice! Why did they become friends anyways? Oh, right, because the rest of the middle school were simply filled with people like those girls. Ever so boring and annoying. So predictable.

It wasn't hard to get the entire student body to love him, Izaya Orihara. He had mainly done it to please his parents, set up a good example for his sisters... People was so predictable, he just said and did what they liked. The only exception had been Shinra...who Izaya thought of as on 'his level.'

"Where's Dotachin?"

"Trying to run away from the girls looking for you," Shinra said sarcastically. "I'm surprised they haven't thought of to check up here, yet," he said as he shoved Izaya's feet over so he could sit on the bench as well.

"Mnn..." Izaya groaned again as he looked up at the moving clouds. Because they're stupid, Izaya answered Shinra's question in his mind.

"Why don't you just date one of them? I mean, you don't have to like her, but it will make the rest of them stop. Few girls are interested in taken men," Shinra chuckled at his own joke.

Izaya frowned and didn't say anything as he watched the clouds shift by. He listened to his friend jabber on and on before the bell finally rang.

It's so boring, they're all so boring, Izaya thought as he followed Shinra down the stairs. With each step he took, he began to rationalize, wasn't all this boringness happening because he's playing good? As long as he kept up good grades, his parents wouldn't really care. As long as he didn't get into trouble at school, his parents wouldn't be upset. A small smile tugged at his lips as he reached the bottom step on the floor of his classroom. Why hadn't he thought of this sooner?

A few weeks later, Izaya announced in front of his class that he was moving away. He wasn't moving far, just to the next town over so he could still come back and visit the class, but it was too far away to continue attending this school. The girls all cried and begged for him to stay. Izaya simply apologized modestly.

"This is sudden," Shinra said. Classes were over for the day and their classroom was nearly empty except for three boys. "You haven't mentioned anything about moving away to us!"

Before Izaya could say anything, Kadota cut in, "Why do you have to move?"

"Ahm..." Izaya searched carefully for words, "It's for business reasons, my parents only told me two days ago." His face stretched into a sly grin, "Besides, it wouldn't be fair to only let you two know when the whole class is curious."

"Liar," Kadota said. The two other boys looked at him. While Shinra knew that Izaya was lying as well, he wouldn't have called him out so boldly.

Izaya didn't say anything for a while. Finally he giggled, "I'm going to miss a lot with you guys, huh? You'll probably make new friends without me, too!"

"You could stay with one of us," Shinra suggested, "My dad definitely won't mind having you here, he's not even around that often. I'm sure your parents will be alright with it as well."

Izaya shook his head, "No, everything's been packed. There's no point."

In the first few months that Izaya had moved away, the three boys still met up regularly to talk and chat. Afterwards, Izaya only messaged them or talked with them online. He usually asked the other two boys about what was going on in the city and they would gladly respond because there's always something happening there. As the months passed, they started knowing less and less about Izaya, what sort of person was he and what was he doing? Whenever they asked, Izaya would say something vague and change the topic again.

After Izaya left, Shinra and Kadota began making new friends, both inside and outside of school. The two boys didn't talk as much as they used to. They went to the same high school, but Kadota had a new group of friends and Shinra was studying to become a doctor. The one new friend they had in common was Shizuo Heiwajima.

"Shizuo Heiwajima? Sounds like the name of a guy who broods in the back of the class with no friends," Izaya's voice traveled through the phone.

"Um, well," Shinra fumbled with his words, "You're not really wrong..." Laughter erupted from the other end of the line.

"I knew it, seems like he's a boring one too."

"Actually, he's the life of the school."

"What? How so?"

"He's really strong."

"So?" Izaya sounded bored, "Hey, hey, tell me about that new project you were going to do? With the rabbits?"

"Oh!" Shinra perked up, Shizuo forgotten. There wasn't a moment in the world when he didn't like talking about his projects.

"Shut the hell up!" Shizuo roared as he lifted his desk high above his head. The room fell into a heavy silence. A few minutes past before Shizuo set the table back onto the floor. He sat down and leaned back in his chair. He looked so peaceful, but nobody dared to make a sound. They didn't know what could possibly set the strongest man in school off.

Five minutes later, their homeroom teacher walked in with a surprised look on his face. "Good morning, class! You're so quiet today, I'm proud!" Everyone held their breath to see if Shizuo would snap. He didn't, he had fallen asleep.

"Hey, Shizuo, I heard you scared your homeroom class again this morning," Kadota said during their lunch break together.

"Yea, what of it?" he said with his mouth full of sandwich, "They were being loud and annoying."

"That may be so, but-" Kadota paused as the table shook, "Oh, sorry, that's me." He picked up his phone which he had placed next to his lunch tray. Shizuo looked a little annoyed by the sudden vibration, but didn't say or do anything.

Kadota raised an eyebrow before typing a message in return.

"Who was that?" Shizuo asked as he finished his sandwich.

"One of my friends from middle school, Izaya."

"Izaya? That's a strange name."

"I think there's a story behind it, but he never told us the full thing," Kadota's phone buzzed again and he quickly typed up a message.

"What are you two talking about?"

Kadota smirked, "You, actually. He said that Shinra mentioned you to him the other day and he's surprised I'm with you right now."

"Hmph, what's so surprising about that?"

"I don't know, Izaya finds amusement in the strangest things."

"Does he go here?"

"No."

"Good, because if he did, I think he'd piss me off."

Izaya Orihara spent his high school days carelessly. He rarely went to class, just enough to pass. He was there for every exam, however, and his classmates were all puzzled as to how he knew when to show up because as far as they knew, he had few friends, if any. He was always causing trouble, but he never actually got into trouble so most people simply stayed out of his way.

On the days that he was in school and there were no exams, they knew that trouble was about to happen.

"Please go out with me," he had said to the quiet class president that day. Everyone knew that the captain of the basketball team had liked her since the first week of school. And everyone knew that he had a possessive and short temper. However, he was too shy to let her know he liked her.

"What?"

"I really like you," Izaya said with a genuine smile. The smile wasn't for her, it was for the basketball captain that was standing behind him with shock.

"B-But this is so sudden," she stumbled on her words and blushed, "B-Besides, you're never here, w-which gives me trouble so...so..."

Izaya leaned against her desk, "So? Why does all of that matter? I like you."

Everyone expected the basketball captain to lose it try to kill Izaya, but he didn't. Izaya, however, knew from the start just how the captain would react. He had been watching the captain for the past few days and knew that despite his temper, he had a good heart. In a few weeks, Izaya attended school every day and said and did all the right things. The class president couldn't help but fall in love with him.

"Let's break up."

She looked up at him with shock in her eyes, "Sorry? What did you say?"

Izaya bit back a chuckle and hung his head down in order to avoid having her see him smile, "I said, let's break up."

"Why?" she demanded.

"I made a mistake, sorry," he paused, looking at her in the corner of his eye to see her reaction, "I don't think I ever really liked you."

Later that day, the basketball captain did snap and attacked Izaya in the school yard. There was a small brawl and some damaged school property, but Izaya didn't get into any trouble. The captain attacked first and all Izaya did was dodge his attacks, he didn't hit back, they didn't have any grounds for giving him punishment. Of course, he also made sure the class president saw all of this. She was in love with Izaya and after seeing the captain attack him, there was no way she could love the captain.

He laughed, this was so much fun!

That was how Izaya spent his high school days. He would befriend some outcast only to leave them more broken up than before or date a girl then dump her to see her reaction. It was easy with his good looks and mysterious reputation. Everyone knew about all the bad things he did, but everyone he enticed always thought that he would change or that they could change him. Why in the world do humans think that way despite the facts they see around them?

"Explain to me, humans! Just what are you thinking..."

Seven months had passed since Shizuo received his curse. Despite the suggestions of his brother and friends, he still found it hard to muster the courage to leave his home. He was always afraid of being tempted to stay outside for too long and when the clock struck 1AM, he would transform in the streets. Some nights, however, he couldn't resist the urge of the pleasant cool breeze and the sounds of laughter outside his house.

Tonight, he set an alarm on his phone to alert him half an hour before one; he didn't want to take any chances.

At this hour, there weren't many people in the park. All the children and their parents had gone home, all that remained were young couples enjoying a moment together. It was a nice sight, but it reminded him of how he didn't have anyone. How he would be cursed as a beast forever because there was no way anyone could possibly love him.

"Shit," he mumbled, not full of rage, but full of sadness and hopelessness.

As he was moping around in the path, he heard the sound of voices nearby. They were nearing and he meant to continue his way and ignore them when his alarm rang. Shizuo jumped and the voices paused for a moment before returning to their conversation. Shizuo quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket and he found that an hour and a half really had past and he had to get out of this park fast.

The voices were getting closer, "Stop clinging to me, you drunkard." It was a male voice. Around the corner came a brunette with a girl following close behind him, trying to cling to his arm. Shizuo knew that he should have left right away, should have just walked out of there, but he didn't like the situation.

"Isa-kun~~" the girl slurred, "I want to go dance, come dance with me at a party!"

The man slapped her hand away, "Go dance with the guy you were on the floor with at the last club. I told you we were over."

The drunk girl probably couldn't see it at that time, but Shizuo did. The man was smiling, like he thought the entire situation was hilarious.

"I didn't wanna dance with him! I wanna dance with you!" again, the girl tried to grab onto his arm, but he simply shook her off.

"We're through, get out of my sight."

"Wha? Isa-Isa!"

"Don't call me that, you disgusting bitch."

And that was when Shizuo felt his temper flare. He reached over and held the girl steady, "Hey, that's no way to talk to a girl! Especially if she's your girlfriend!"

The man glared back up at him, "Mind your own business and if you hadn't been eavesdropping correctly," his lips turning into a smirk again, "She's no longer my girlfriend!"

"Isa-kun!"

"Girlfriend or not, you're going to leave her drunk in a park? What kind of man are you?"

The man shrugged, "If that's what you define being a man as, why don't you take her home?" His smile showed teeth, "I'm sure she'll hang all over you like any other guy she looks at."

"You-" Shizuo snapped, "Bastard!" Letting go of the girl, he reached out to punch the other man.

"Woah~!" The man quickly dodged to the side and Shizuo felt a sudden sting in his wrist. When he turned around, the man was standing in front of him with the same teeth-showing-smile. Shizuo's wrist was bleeding-how? When did he get cut? "You brute, don't you think it's rude to try and hit me on our first meeting, Shizu-chan?"

"Shut the hell up, you piece of trash!" he paused for a second, "How do you know my name?"

The man shrugged, "You're famous, Shizu-chan! I heard about you even from outside the city! I also heard that you've disappeared off the face of the earth, but I guess that's not true." The man took his hand out of his pocket and pointed the knife he had been holding at Shizuo, "So tell me, what's wrong? Why have you been hiding all these months? I wanted to know more about you!"

"Shut the hell up! Your rambling is pissing me off!" Shizuo pulled a nearby bench off the concrete and threw it at the man.

His red eyes widened and his grin stretched further across his face. This was fascinating, so fascinating! He had never met someone like Shizuo before! Completely unreasonable, without restraint, he was barely human! Barely even human...of course, as he was thinking this, he dodged the bench and dashed forward to attack with his knife again- a quick swipe across the chest before jumping out of Shizuo's arms length again.

The man clicked his tongue and pocketed his knife again, "Just like some sort of monster..."

Involuntarily, Shizuo flinched at his words.

"You disgust me."

"Shut the hell up, you-" Shizuo a strange tingling in his skin and the rest of his words were lost in a roar. No, no, no, no, no, no! Shizuo's thoughts raced as he watched his fingers turn into claws and his arms turn hairy. Behind him, despite being drunk, the girl realized that a monster stood in front of her and began screaming. In front of him, the man stood frozen, but without a smile. He looked as though he was in absolute shock and could no longer comprehend what he was seeing.

I need to get out of here! Although he was angry at the man in front of him, Shizuo didn't want to kill him. If he stayed here any longer, his temper would flare again and no matter how strong that man is, Shizuo would rip him into pieces. Even now, Shizuo didn't want to harm anyone, much less kill someone.

He bolted. He ripped a hole in the iron fence that surrounded the park and left the scene. The man's crimson eyes followed his form. He saw the beast get in the middle of traffic and terrorize teenagers on the street and finally he saw him disappear around a corner.

"...A monster..." Izaya's words shook. For the first time ever, something physical frightened him.

This took a while to write (not really, literal writing process was a couple of days). I had a different version of this chapter typed out at nearly the same time as the first chapter. Halfway through, I looked back at it and didn't like it. I sort of forgot about it afterwards xP;; So now, practically a year later, I started rewatching DRRR! and got the motivation to start writing again. I don't know if my writing style has changed slightly or radically, but I do hope this chapter was at least enjoyable and the characterizations still fit the actual characters!