I never forget. I never forgive. I can wait. I find it very easy to harbor a grudge. I have scores to settle. –Tom Wolfe

It was late, nearly an hour until midnight, and Shizuo was in a bar drinking with Tom and Vorona. A long day of work passed; first Shizuo woke up late, having a searing headache from the previous nightʻs drinking. Second was that half way through the workday, Shizuo accidentally went too far with a client, forcing Tom to reschedule their appointment. Third was that he ruined the new suit Kasuka bought him during lunch, spilling his food all over himself. Then to top it all off, Shizuo forgot his cigarettes at his apartment, leaving him to go without a smoke through this whole stressful day. This wasnʻt bad luck, that Shizuo knew. He was distracted, subconsciously something at the back of his head was getting on his nerves, and he knew what it was. It was that girl from a week and a half ago.

He remembered her face perfectly; from her short black hair to her twisted smile. Shizuo couldnʻt this girl out of his head, she made very sure of that. He recalled what she had said to him that night for the past week; to not get in her way. She was talking about Izaya, she had to have been talking about him, or else this never would have happened. The flea always had that talent to attract people that Shizuo wouldnʻt like to be associated with, he was always aware of that. But what bothered him to the point of pissing him off was the aura she gave off when she said that. She was giving off the message that Izaya was herʻs, and Shizuo just had to wonder who the hell this girl thought she was. He and Izaya were known throughout Ikebukuro to be a pair; who was she to come sweeping in and declare territory over Izaya?

Thinking about it pissed him off, making his blood boil. The feeling was very similar to feeling he felt when he first met the flea, except something else was mixed in, a very unfamiliar feeling he coudnʻt explain. She caused this, and he didnʻt like it one bit. But he knew that she was a force to be reckon with, it was made very clear that night. To knock him out would have taken serious strength, even the strongest material hit over his head wasnʻt enough to knock him out. It seemed that he met his match, which was quite ironic. His whole life he was looking for someone who was something close to him, what people would call a monster, and now that he actually found someone like him, he wanted her dropped off the face of the earth. Which was why he thought that sure, she was a force to be reckon with, but so was he, and she just started something that he was going to finish.

Looking back on what happened after that incident, he remembered waking up with it being late morning. The sun was shining down on him and he remembered staying there for a moment, gathering what had just happened. When he finally got to his senses, his eyes widened and he quickly got up, the cement blocks that were on him sliding off of him. He went back to his apartment to take a shower, and throughout that whole day Shizuo remembered thinking about the previous night over and over. He had to pace in circles to calm himself whenever he got too angry, and he smoked at least five cigarettes that day. It was like that the next day as well, but as the week progressed, his anger began to be more controlled. That didnʻt mean he stopped thinking about it of course, it might not be on his mind consciously, but subconsciously it was. Even now he was thinking about it.

"Senpai." Vorona placed her hand on Shizuoʻs shoulder, bringing him out of his daze, "Are you feeling well?"

"Yeah, just a little tired is all." Shizuo replied.

Vorona looked at him seriously, "Do not take this in the wrong way, but I think that you are lying. Throughout this week you have been somewhat distracted."

Shizuo sighed, "Itʻs that obvious?"

"Yes." Vorona stated, "What had happened to make you upset?"

Vorona stared at Shizuo as he thought about his answer, he looked like hell. It was obvious that he wasnʻt getting the sleep that he should be getting, dark circles beginning to form under his eyes. His clothes were a mess, and his hair wasnʻt any better. He had looked like this for the past week. She was concerned for him, she hadnʻt ever seen him like this. What ever had happened to him, it was getting to him, she could tell. There was a certain look in eyes that burned whenever he thought about it, and it seemed to be on his mind nearly ten times a day. Before work, after work, during work, that look came back to his eyes. She wasnʻt the only one who noticed it either, Tom also noticed, and even asked her if she knew anything about it. Normally she wasnʻt one to pry into personal business, but she felt like she had to for this situation; she just wanted the normal Shizuo back.

"Just an incident with someone. Itʻs been bothering me." Shizuo replied, "I canʻt get it out of my head."

"Have you spoken to this person about this incident?" Vorona asked.

"No, I havenʻt." Shizuo answered.

"Then you should find this person and speak to them about it." Vorona suggested, "It has been on Tom-sanʻs mind as well."

Shizuo finished his drink then stood, "Excuse me, Iʻm going to leave, itʻs getting late."

"Senpai." Vorona called out to him before he could leave, "We are not concerned at how it is affecting work, but how it is affecting you. Please take care of yourself."

"I will." Shizuo assured her, "Goodnight."

"Weʻll see you tomorrow Shizuo." Tom smiled.

Shizuo knew that Vorona was right; he couldnʻt just let this girl get to him forever, he had to find her. What he was going to do when he found her was something he would have to think about later, right now he just had to find her. One way to find her would be to go to the fleaʻs apartment and ask him, but would just open a can of worms that Shizuo didnʻt want to open right now. He was upset when he thought about the flea, and not the normal kind of upset, so seeing him wasnʻt on Shizuoʻs agenda. Another way to find her would be to use an informant, but Shizuo didnʻt dealing with one of the fleaʻs kind, as they all had a catch. So the only other way he could think of to find the girl was asking Celty. She saw most of Ikebukuro, day and night, and she wasnʻt a stranger to meeting abnormal people frequently, so Shizuo figured if he had to start anywhere, it would be there.

Now the only problem was that he had no way to contact her. Thanks to the girl dumping a pile of cement blocks on top of him, his phone got crushed, and he was left with no means of communication for the past week. The only way he was going to contact her was to look for her, which wasnʻt going to be easy since, as he said before, she was all over Ikebukuro. That was when he began to hear the faint sound of a speeding motor cycle, and he reacted quickly, hoping that the sound turned out to be Celty. When he looked at the source, he found that by a stroke of luck it was her. He stepped in the way of her path, causing her to screech to a stop right in front of him. She stared at him for a moment, then motioned for him to get on, knowing that this wasnʻt the place to stop and chat.

When they were finally alone, Shizuo spoke, "Have you seen a girl with black hair and blue eyes around Ikebukuro?"

"There are a lot of girls that look like that, Shizuo. You have to be more specific." Celty replied.

Shizuo thought for a moment, "Short black hair nearly reaching her shoulders with bangs and bright blue eyes. Sheʻs young too, looks like sheʻs in high school."

Celty tried to remember if she saw a girl matching Shizuoʻs description, remembering something from a few nights ago. She saw a pair leaving Shinraʻs apartment; one person being an oddly familiar man, the other being a young girl with short black hair and blue eyes. She remembered that the girl smiled kindly at her for just a moment before turning to follow her companion. The girl looked innocent, and kind, but Celty didnʻt get a look at her companionʻs face, although in this situation it didnʻt matter. What ever this was, it seemed to be very important to Shizuo. He wouldnʻt normally stop her on her bike for anything, since usually he didnʻt want to burden her. If by some stroke of luck this was actually the girl Shizuo might be talking about, then she would be glad to have helped him out.

"Iʻve seen a girl like that at Shinraʻs, one of his patients." She told him.

"Can you take me to Shinra?" he asked.

Celty stared at him for a moment, then nodded, Shizuo proceeding to get on her bike. As they drove to Shinraʻs apartment, she had to wonder what the situation was between this girl and Shizuo. By the tone in his voice this girl seemed to be very important to him, although she could tell that he wasnʻt harboring any sort of caring feelings for her. In fact, when he spoke of her, it was with a tone of irritation and rage, which also caused her to wonder who this girl was. Shizuo wasnʻt the type of person to dislike another person for no reason, the girl had to have done something. Although the girl looked innocent and kind, it just reminded Celty that not every person was who they seemed. But even so, this wasnʻt Celtyʻs business to deal with, it was Shizuoʻs, and she didnʻt want to get involved in things she didnʻt have to get involved with.

When they got to Shinraʻs apartment, Celty unlocked the door and let Shizuo in. Shinra automatically came to the entrance of their home with a grin on his face, like a puppy waiting for their master. He greeted Celty and Shizuo happily, then questioning Shizuo as to what he wanted, seeing at Shizuo did have any sort of injuries. That was all Shizuo normally came to his apartment for; medical issues such as his little games with Izaya or when a person unwisely picked a fight with him. Plus whenever it came to Celty, they usually finished their issues outside of his apartment since most of their issues caused damage and insurance could only cover so much. So either Shizuo was making a very out of character visit, or something that didnʻt involve medical problems needed to be talked about. Even so, Shinra wasnʻt expecting what Shizuo asked next.

"There was a girl with short black hair and blue eyes here recently, right?" Shizuo asked.

Shinra nearly froze, that girl had something to do with Shizuo, something bad. Of course a girl deeply involved with Izaya was bad news one way or another, whether it was her fault or not. Nothing could ever be simple with Izaya, could it? He wondered just what did she have to do with Shizuo, he could tell it was important. But even so, Shinra knew that he couldnʻt tell Shizuo anything, he gave his word that he wouldnʻt speak of Karen to anyone. He glanced at Shizuo, noticing the obvious look of seriousness on his face, and for a second he had contemplated telling Shizuo that he had seen Karen. But then he remembered Karen with Izaya, and how Izaya looked at him when he told him not to tell anyone about Karen. Shinra didnʻt enjoy situations like these, but he would have to handle it anyway.

"No, I havenʻt actually, sorry." Shinra lied.

Shizuo narrowed his eyes, "Why are you lying, Shinra?"

"Iʻm not lying, Iʻm telling the truth." He insisted.

Celty stepped in, "I saw her leaving here a few nights ago."

Shinra felt guilty at lying to Celty, but continued, "You mustʻve imagined it, cause I donʻt have any patients that look like that."

"Fine." Shizuo stated angrily, "I guess Iʻll have to find her myself."

Shizuo exited Shinraʻs apartment, pacing his way out of the building, controlling himself so that he wouldnʻt break anything. He was pissed, he had trusted Shinra to tell him the truth and what did he do? Looked at him straight in the eye and lied to him. He wasnʻt mad that he didnʻt get any information about the girl, it was that she turned Shinra against him. Just who was this girl to even have Shinra helping her, and just what did she want with Izaya. This girl was going to pay for what she did to him, he was going to make sure of it. Shizuo didnʻt know who she was, what she had to do with Shinra, or if she was more dangerous than she seemed, truthfully he didnʻt give a sh*t. All he knew that he was going to find this girl, with or without anyoneʻs help, and he was going to make her pay.