AN: Okey, here I am! Awfully sorry for the long wait but a lot of shit´s gone down as of late from horribly persistant allergies and deceases to brothers and their cats unexpectedly moving back in with you (in a one piece appartment *sighs*). In any case, thanks for putting up with me :3


Tea-party:

"So, what would you like?" Rena asked as she swiftly moved around the kitchen, "cherry-blossom, lemon, strawberry, green-tea, black…".

Izaya sat in what was most definitely Mikado, Anri´s and Masaomi´s student apartment chin in his hands, elbows casually resting against the table as he curiously watched his strange abductor going out on her way to please him.

"Green tea please", he interrupted her.

"Great!" the girl turned to him with a positively overjoyed smile on her face, "in a minute!"

Izaya chuckled slightly as the girl put the kettle on the cooker. While this definitely wasn´t the first time a teenager went on their way to please him he´d hardly ever come across anyone who acted so naturally in his presence.

The girl had seemed genuinely sorry for her actions but not to the point where she was terrified of meeting his gaze. Her sorry was the "I´m sorry for misbehaving"-kind of sorry not the "So, sorry for existing"-kind of sorry that was so often offered to him by girls her age.

"So", he said finally, "I take it you haven´t been in Tokyo for long".

"No", the girl flashed him another bright smile as she sat down in front of him on the opposite end of the table, "this is my fifth day in Ikebukuro".

"How do you like it so far?" Izaya gave a curious half smile, "I can imagine you have heard quite the stories of this place".

Rena looked at him, eyes growing wide.

"No, definitely not!" she shook her head as though he´d spoken of small green men crashing down from outer space, "I have no idea what that could be".

Oh, Mikado-kun so you haven´t warned your little friend, Izaya gave a hardly noticeable smirk as he thought of the poor naïve, hardly entitled to be called a gang-leader kind of boy…. how very, very…. Interesting of you.

"My time here has been wonderful so far", Rena continued enthusiastically, "and school is fun".

"You go to Raira-academy?" Izaya already knew the answer, but asked for the sake of avoiding suspicion.

"Yes", the girl nodded eagerly, "I´m only taking separate classes though. English and computer-science. It´s been great so far".

"I see", Izaya nodded giving an amused smile, "so I take it then that your hometown didn´t have much to offer in that department".

"No", Rena shook her head thoughtfully, "it´s not that Chie-sensei isn´t good at what she´s doing but… don´t get Rena wrong", the girl frowned, "Chie-sensei is an excellent teacher but… she´s only ever been in Hinamizawa so everything she teaches is based on… well" the girl paused for an instant, " Hinamizawa"

"Hinamizawa?" Izaya raised an eyebrow as he observed the girl curiously.

"Sorry", the girl smiled timidly, "Hinamizawa is Rena´s home-village and since it´s so far away from town we hardly ever well…"

Now that Izaya thought about it, the name did ring a bell. He recalled it vaguely from some newspaper he´d read long ago which he unfortunately hadn´t had time to look closer into but he did recall that the article most certainly caught his interest.

"So it´s that far away", he smiled meaningfully, "then I suppose it´s a good thing you came here because Raira has always been known for its large possibilities. You must be pretty sharp then", he met the girl´s gaze with an excitement that would have frightened any normal person, "because Raira isn´t a place that accepts the average".

"Rena doesn´t know about that", the girl shook her head slightly, a timid smile shaping her lips, "but Rena had to study hard".

Rena this, Rena that, what was it with this girl and speaking of herself in third person? Izaya had assumed that she was rather simple-minded judging by his not so pleasant ride here but her politeness as well as the obvious fact that she had been, regardless of it only being a few classes accepted to Raira Academy. No, this girl definitely wasn´t stupid but she wasn´t the most composed person he´d known and that fact was rather…

A loud peep from the kitchen interrupted Izaya in his train of thought.

"Oh, the tea!" the girl clapped her hands excitedly as she rose to her feet, "I´ll be back in a second".

Izaya studied her curiously as she opened the blue cupboard, picking up two rather large china cups (mostly likely Mikado´s or Anri´s he guessed since he couldn´t imagine Masaomi for the life of him being able to afford such elegant things). There was a natural determination in the girl´s movements, a humble yet fearless atmosphere surrounding her that deeply fascinated him. That was certainly nothing about her that followed any logic or coherency which was certainly an aspect that would never become boring but certainly an aspect that would never become comfortable either. Utterly adorable or utterly despicable? That was the question.

"Here!" Rena placed the cup in front of Izaya with another one of her bright smiles before sitting down on the opposite side of him taking her own cup into her hands.

"Thank you", he said before following her example and taking a sip of his tea.

Like or utterly dislike? Well, if the tea was anything to go by Rena did start out…

"Not bad" he nodded with a slight smile.

_._

Mikado, Anri and Masaomi had been in the midst of chemistry, patiently listening to Miss Hasegawa´s educational but incredibly uneventful speech about the chemical differences between plain silver and nickel when a panting, sweating and furious fortissimo of Ikebukuro barged in, nearly hitting the poor teacher in the head with the door he´d ripped off its hinges. There was a brief second in which the entire class and the eyes of the strongest man of Ikebukuro´s met in silence, one side filled with horror the other with back held irritation before the man drew a deep breath.

"I want to speak to Ryugamine Mikado!" Shizuo declared finally, "Ryugamine Mikado!"

Mikado half considered saying that he was his own long lost twin brother Takeshi who´d just arrived here from Okinawa but if there was one advise worth listening to coming from Orihara Izaya it was that that man had good instincts, and since Mikado had been told from various sources that he wasn´t the best of liars he decided to scratch that idea.

"Y-yes", he said finally as he stood up on shaky legs.

"You´re friends with a girl called Ryuugu Rena, right?" the fortissimo drew heavy breaths as he spoke.

"Yes?" Mikado frowned, already expecting the worst.

Damn it! I knew I should have called in sick today! He cursed himself over and over again.

After another second of utter and complete horror the beast of Ikebukuro opened his mouth again, pointing his finger at him.

"You need to find her!" he stated, "right now!"

_._

"So basically Rika had been there all along!" Rena finished with a giggle as she clapped her hands, sitting back on her chair again.

Izaya had been listening with a curious half smile as the girl spoke of her friends back in Hinamizawa. It wasn´t that their everyday lives in themselves appeared particularly interesting, (although he must say that games which forced people to act according to the winner´s orders sounded quite appealing) but the fact that someone could speak of these things so enthusiastically to someone they hardly knew.

"Ah", he replied with a slight chuckle, "I suppose your friend Keiichi wasn´t very attentive then".

"Nope!" Rena nodded happily, "he never is! That´s why he´s always the one to get punished".

I´d love to play a game with this Keiichi, Izaya thought as he faced the girl casually supporting his elbow against the table, just think of the many favors I would have him owe me. Now however was not the time for games, the informant recalled as he got a look at the cellphone in his hand. 15.30, oh dear how time passed quickly.

"So", he asked, "if I´d like to meet up with you again… where would I reach you?"

"You want to meet up with me again?" the girl´s eyes widened in a mixture of excitement and surprise.

"Of course", Izaya said matter of factually.

For once Izaya wasn´t entirely lying. This… creature, whom he hadn´t yet settled on whether to call human or not had proved to be a very interesting study so far and this generation of dystopian, self-proclaimed misunderstood poets had become very, very predictable. He could have fun. At least for a while. Until even this one turned into one of the dull, life-loathing existences of Ikebukuro.

"I suppose…", the girl started a thoughtful expression on her features, "my dad said it wouldn´t be a bad idea… but since I already invited you here… Here!" Rena smiled finally, "here´s my phone-number!"

Oh, Izaya gave a smile that would have frightened practically anyone other than the girl before him as he picked up his cellphone, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

_._

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! They were in deep shit! Thought Masaomi Kida as he walked alongside his about equally as peaceful friends and….

"DamnitDamnitDamnitDamnit!"

Masaomi threw the tall blond a glance not even daring to give his best friend standing on his left a meaningful look as he tried to wrap his mind around the situation.

Why the hell had he decided to go to school today? Why the hell couldn´t he have stuck to his old mischievous ways and found a stupid, albeit an excuse not to attend?

As if leaving the sweet, outgoing and was he allowed to say so? Incredibly naïve Hinamizawa girl in the clutches of one of Tokyo´s most dangerous men wasn´t bad enough, forming a rescue-squad consisting of himself, his equally mortified friends and the other most dangerous man of Ikebukuro most certainly had to top that list.

"I`ll kill him, killhimkillhimkillhim".

Masaomi swallowed hard as he listened to yet another one of the fortissimo of Ikebukuro´s not so subtle monologues. He didn´t actually know what would be worse, not finding Rena and Izaya at the apartment or actually finding them at the apartment. He couldn´t precisely tell but Masaomi had a vague suspicion that Mikado could kiss his mother´s furniture goodbye in either case.

"Well… erhm…", Mikado´s stuttering voice interrupted his thoughts, "looks like the lights are on".

Looking up to gaze at the single lit window in the otherwise colorless building Masaomi was just about to draw a sigh of relief when….

"IZAYAHHHH-KUUUN!"

There goes Mikado-kun´s furniture, thought Masaomi as he ran after the damn near psychotic bartender moving towards their apartment in the speed of lightning. Rena-chan, please be okay!

_._

"And there you have it!" the ruby-eyed man grinned as he tapped the last button of Rena´s cellphone, "Orihara Izaya, call me whenever you´re in need of a quick guide to Ikebukuro".

Rena smiled happily as she accepted the all other than modern device back, now one phone-number richer. She should have been suspicious perhaps, having the number of someone she actually kidnapped handed to her so swiftly but Izaya had become part of her omochikaeri-menu and you always embraced anything coming from the omochikaeri-menu with open arms.

"Oh! Rena definitely will!" Rena said softly.

"Good", the raven nodded, the same calm, slightly amused smile on his face, "then that´s decided. See you around then".

"Mhm!" Rena nodded excitedly, a big smile on her face "thanks for today Izaya-san".

"The pleasure is entirely on my side. Alright then, Rena-chan", he chuckled raising his hand casually, "see you around then!"

_._

"IZAYAHHH! IZ-AY-AH-KUN!"

Anri watched with eyes wide-opened as the door to their apartment was ripped open and thrown aside like a towel, the man neither of them had expected to bring home storming inside. She couldn´t decide what was most troublesome. The fact that Rena had very possibly brought the infamous Izaya Orihara to their apartment or the fact that they had brought his arch nemesis here?

"IZAYAHHH!" the tall blond stomped into the hall, "no use hiding you damn louse! The whole damn place stinks of you!"

Anri frowned as she threw Mikado a glance. They had made it through a lot together as of late but at this very moment she wondered if a lot could ever truly compare to this. Izaya finally meeting his end by Shizuo´s hand wasn´t something she particularly minded but the idea of Mikado, Masaomi and even Rena being dragged into it was a completely different story.

"Shizuo-san?"

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks as they came face to face with a wide eyed yet smiling Rena, standing in front of them holding one of Mikado´s large green tea-cups.

"Rena-san!" the just seconds ago fuming blonde´s eyes widened in return the door he´d torn of his hinges, falling to the floor with a loud thud, "are you alright?"

"Mhm!" Rena nodded cheerfully, "I just had the nicest conversation with Iza-chan. Unfortunately he had to leave but now you´re here so…"

Anri silently prayed to whatever god there may be to please spare their new couch and matching chairs since it had cost her and Mikado-kun a fortune because this reply most certainly could not have appealed to the most short-tempered man of Ikebukuro.

"Would you like some tea?" Rena went on, "unfortunately the tea´s cold now but I can make some new if you´d like?"

In a moment of devastating silence Anri followed Rena´s facial expression of innocent hopefulness to the unreadable expression of Ikebukuro´s strongest man. She would gladly refrain from using it and especially not in the apartment they´d all paid expensively for but if Saika was required so be it.

"Yeah… if it´s not too much trouble", Shizuo looked down at his feet, a clearly embarrassed look on his face.

Anri wasn´t known to be the most expressive of people but anyone witnessing the strange reaction of Heiwajima Shizuo would have witnessed an even stranger reaction from Sonohara Anri.

"Anri-kun, are you alright?" Rena asked as she looked with concern at the girl´s wide opened mouth and eyes.

_._

Izaya sang a cheerful tone as he waltzed into his apartment, causing his secretary to frown for the umpteenth time.

"You´re looking awfully cheerful for someone who´s been kidnapped by a girl half his size", Namie commented with a raised brow.

"Oh, Namie-san, it saddens me so that you haven´t yet learnt the pleasures of human-interaction after so many years", the informant sang, "me and Ryuugu-san had such a pleasant and rewarding conversation".

"Let me guess", Namie said matter of factually, "you told her about the pointlessness of our existence and that there is no god, but luckily there is you".

"So mean, Namie-san!" Izaya exclaimed with feigned hurt, "jumping to such insulting conclusions. But if you must know", he continued in his normal cheerful tone, "I very kindly offered to guide her straight in the cluster that is Ikebukuro and she quite happily took me up on that offer".

"So how long before you take her to the roof?"

No she didn´t, Izaya thought borderline delightfully to himself as he heard the calm yet so poisonous sentence of his secretary.

"And there you go again with your hurtful conclusions", he said, "my wishes for Rena-chan are only the best".

A short "Mph" was the only thing Izaya got as a response as he sat down in front of the computer.

Ignoring it like so many other times Izaya started typing with a smile on his face. Hinamizawa, Ryuugu Rena. Patiently tapping his fingertips against the table he waited for the screen to upload. Oh, he was definitely sure he´d heard the name Hinamizawa before and almost certain he´d heard the name Ryuugu Rena in connection with it. In fact he was almost 100 percent certain that…

"Oh!" Izaya called out as the words on the screen finally came into full view, silent excitement growing within his eyes. Oh he just knew he´d heard of Hinamizawa before and he was almost ashamed of himself for forgetting the interesting story tied with it "Ryuugu-chan", he whispered, "you and I are going to have so much fun".

Namie didn´t even raise an eyebrow as her boss for the millionth time since she´d come to work for him started spinning in his chair in the speed of lightning, his loud cackles filling the air.

"I love humans!" the words rang through the streets of Shinjuku, "I love humans!"


AN: O.o Izaya´s been digging up info on our Hinamizawa-heroin. This can´t be good, can it?

On another note, know that I keep being inconsequent with the honorifics and even though I´ve reread this chapter 5 times I wouldn´t be surprised if I´ve messed up in places again :P

I do however have Rena refer to Anri as -kun which is actually intentional. She isn´t close enough to Anri to refer to her as `chan`(even though I know that this honorific is used on young women a lot no matter your relationship with them) and not far enough to refer to her as -san. I may be completely off (although I´ve heard female characters such as Hanyuu, Celty and Shion being refered to as -kun) but since Rena is a polite young girl I attempted to have her adress Anri as politely as possible without being overly formal.

I WAS tempted however to have Rena adress Izaya as ´Iza-chan´but ultimately decided against it since he regardless of being on her Omochikaeri-menu still is her elder xD.

Vampirehuntress72095 - Thanks a ton! You really are too sweet :3. So glad more people get my utterly absurd sence of humor xDDDDD.

So glad you like jealous Anri. I somehow find the idea of her being slightly possessive of her `Ryugamine-kun`without being fully aware of it adorable, especially since she has emotionally distanced herself for so many years (not that I blame the poor girl).

As for Rena´s less *ahem* less... `convenient`side I believe there will be bits and pieces of it later on -:)

In any case, thank you all for reading and being patient with my horribly irregular updates. In all likelihood my updates will continue to be monthly for a while. But there WILL come a time soon enough when they´ll flow a lot faster.