Wow! Three Chapters and two reviews already! I'm on a roll!

Thank you to RYNO IV for your suggestion! I definitely plan on showing a lot more about Arlua and what makes her tick. It might take me a while to completely develop her, but I'll do my best! And I will also try to include more descriptions.

And to saphira54325, I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! I'm rather fond of Izaya myself, so I'm trying really hard to keep him in character.

Thanks also to Shan-kun, who I can always ask for advice on how characters would act in a situation if I'm not sure!

Disclaimer: obviously I haven't purchased Durarara and associated characters or trademarks or whatever since last chapter, so I can only lay claim to Natsuki and Arlua.

Chapter 2

Arlua stalked into Natsuki's office, a scowl twisting her lips. The more senior technician looked up from her computer. Arlua figured she was probably remoting into a server or something like usual.

"Hey, Arlua. Everything check out with Orihara?" she asked, apparently not noticing her friend and coworker's scowl.

"Oh, everything checked out all right. Including Mr. Orihara's sanity – if he ever had any," Arlua snapped. Her blue-green eyes flashed dangerously as she advanced, stalking around the desk to loom over her seated friend. Natsuki laughed nervously and twisted a few strands of dark hair around her finger.

"I take it he was there, then?" she guessed. Arlua nodded sharply.

"And next time his computer needs maintenance, someone else can do it because I'm not going back," she snarled. Natsuki sighed.

"I understand. But you realize no one else is willing to do it, either?" she muttered. "I was hoping you'd take dealing with him as a challenge."

"Natsuki, there are challenges, and then there are things that are impossible to deal with, and then there is Izaya Orihara," Arlua growled. "And tell the next poor person you manage to force to take that client that the door and computer are both locked, and the guy likes to sneak up behind people. I'm going to visit Shi and try to forget I ever met the one person who would benefit most from that straight jacket and padded room you mentioned this morning." With that, Arlua turned on her heel and stalked back out of Natsuki's office, leaving her friend to groan and drop her head onto the desk as she tried to think of who she could convince to take any support requests Orihara might have.

Arlua scanned the crowd on the street, searching for the person she had come to meet. She'd called him on the way, and he had agreed to meet her in the park. She sat on a bench as the fountain erupted, obscuring her view of the crowded street for a moment. When it died down, she glanced around and jumped when she saw a tall blond man just a few feet away, grinding a cigarette into the ashtray beside the bench. He caught the motion out of the corner of his eye and turned toward her, frowning.

"Why're you so jumpy? Didn't you see me walk over?" he demanded. She shook her head, berating herself mentally for not paying attention. "So whatever you needed to talk about is that bad, huh?" He moved over and sat beside her, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, hands hanging loosely, and turned his head to watch her.

"Not bad, necessarily…just…exhausting. And crazy. He's crazy. And exhausts me. And I didn't even realize how tired I was until I sat down here," she sighed. Arlua leaned back against the bench and tilted her head back to stare upward at the sky framed by the park's trees and the towering buildings around the park.

"He?" The blond reached up and removed his blue glasses, hooking them in the black vest of his bartender's outfit before resuming his earlier pose.

"Yeah. A client. He's insane – I mean literally, maybe criminally, insane," Arlua muttered. She told him about the man and his insanity, including his bizzare reaction to the electronic lock pick. "Now that I'm thinking about it, a normal person would have called the police if they thought someone was trying to break into their office, right? So why didn't he? Nothing he did made any sense, Shi!" she added, using her nickname for the man sitting next to her.

"I don't know who this guy is, but I want to punch him," he growled. "The way you describe him makes him sound like the flea." Arlua felt her lips start to curve upward.

"That guy you try to kill every time he comes here? Isaac something? What was his name again?" she asked, trying to remember.

"Izaya, not Isaac," the man next to her muttered. Arlua froze.

"Izaya?" she repeated. She stared at him. "Shizuo…" she said slowly, using his full name for once instead of the nickname she'd stuck him with months before. "The flea…isn't Izaya Orihara, the information broker, is it?" The man's eyebrows came together as he frowned.

"Why?"

"Because that's the man whose computer I was checking," Arlua answered. She let out a bitter, humorless laugh. "Guess that explains that insanity of his…" Beside her, Shizuo's frown had become the dark, rage-filled expression she knew meant he was on the edge of smashing something – or someone. "Shi, he's not here in Ikebukuro, he's back in Shinjuku, I'm sure…" He clenched his fists.

"I'm going to kill that flea," Shizuo growled through clenched teeth. Arlua smiled.

"Then Natsuki wouldn't have to worry about making someone go to his office anymore," she mused. "Normally I object to you beating the crap out of people, but for Mr. Orihara, I'll cheer you on. I'm just glad Natsuki said she understood when I told her I wasn't going to deal with him…" She glanced sideways at Shizuo and saw he was still glowering, and was now clenching and unclenching his fists as though imagining how it would feel to wrap his fingers around Izaya's neck and squeeze. Arlua sighed stood. "Come on, Shi. Let's go find something to do." Find you some milk and a place with fewer people so you can calm down, she thought.