"When you're in love it's like the stars are falling into your hand….There's thousands of stars surrounding you and when they shine, the whole world sings."
-Christina Gabriel (Heat Guy J)

Chihiro was well aware that she had a pretty normal, even happy life. Everyone has their own problems, but whatever obstacles she had ever faced were overcome or at least pushed into the category of problems she couldn't do too much about in the first place. Truthfully, minor inconveniences were the more annoying obstacles; Chihiro took pleasure in the little things, and she knew that little occurrences could make up a bigger picture.

Accidentally sleeping in, not remembering her car was still in the shop, her bike having a flat, coming in late for work, and getting chewed out subtly by her supervisor probably didn't matter in the grand scheme of life.

Chihiro was still pissed at the end of the day; it didn't help that it was pouring outside and in her rush to get ready and out the door, she forgot her just-in-case umbrella. She was currently leaning against her work building under the overhanging roof, waiting out the rain. Chihiro couldn't help sigh in defeat; it didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. At least it couldn't get worse…..

"Hello there!" a smooth, cheerful voice called out to her.

Fuck.

"Of course." Chihiro admonished herself for getting her hopes up. "He would come now of all times. I should know better." She mentally prepared herself for the inevitable headache that came from being in Izaya's company.

"So, stuck in the rain, huh? Here I thought you were a smart, prepared girl. Did you even check the weather forecast this morning?" he chided playfully. Chihiro was not in the mood for this; not that she ever really was .

"I forgot my umbrella. Look who's talking; you're soaked, idiot." Chihiro retorted unamused. The only way she could deal with Izaya was through disinterest. It seemed to be working, in a way. He hadn't been barraging her with emails, and he hadn't been texting or calling her as frequently, to Chihiro's relief

Izaya had been increasing his visits, specifically to Chihiro's apartment. He practically lived there; she was tempted to start charging him rent, or at least have him pay for food expenses. He came every night for dinner. If she went out at night, Izaya would send dozens of messages:

Where were you? Why weren't you at home? What was he supposed to eat? How could you just left him starve? Were you with anyone?

Chihiro ended up smashing her phone once. Izaya was considerate enough to buy her a new one: his number was already typed in.

"Helloooo Chi-chan?" Izaya was waving his hand in front of Chihiro's face; she had zoned out and he was pouting at her lack of attention.

"Hm? What?" Chihiro asked irritated.

"I said, let's go home!" he answered smiling. He reached into his coat and pulled out an umbrella. "I'll share with you!" he proclaimed as if it was the most amazing idea ever.

"Where the hell did he get that from? Why didn't he use it earlier?" She wondered confused.

"Let's go, shall we?" he offered his hand to her, but she batted it away in a huff. Reluctantly, Chihiro stood under the umbrella with him, hoping no one would get the wrong idea, and the two headed toward her apartment.

"Thanks, I guess. So what do you want to eat?" Chihiro assumed he wanted something for his "kindness".

Izaya chuckled softly. "Is it so hard to believe I just want to help a friend?"

"Yes."

He smiled(almost convincingly)sadly. "Well, on the contrary I have a surprise for you!" he said cheerfully. Chihiro immediately felt wary.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"O' ye of little faith. If I told you then it wouldn't be a surprise would it now?" Chihiro glared at him from the corner of her eyes; the patronizing bastard. She decided to just feign disinterest and walked beside him silently under the umbrella. She'd find out the "surprise' sooner or later.

When they both made it to the apartment, the rain was considerably lighter. Chihiro unlocked the door and noticed all the lights were off.

"The power's shut down? I paid my electric bill on time." She mused aloud. Izaya laughed and pulled her by her arm toward the kitchen; there was a dim, flickering light coming from inside. Chihiro peered in and realized there were two candles on top of her table, along with an array of food and two glasses of wine.

Dumbstruck, she turned to face Izaya slowly. "Why…did you do this?"

He smiled slightly. "I still have cameras in here; you seemed to have a quite a hectic morning. I figured I'd give you a break from dinner duty today." he explained simply.

Chihiro stared at him blankly for a moment or two before turning back to stare at the food. She looked back at him after a minute and smiled.

Izaya seemed to tense up; Chihiro hadn't smiled at him since he first met her, before she knew the real him. Now she knew who he was, what he had done, and what he could do, and once more Chihiro smiled at him softly.

"Izaya, I don't really know what to say, except thank you." Chihiro said awkwardly. "I had a crappy day and it just seemed to get worse. What can I say? This is just what I needed." She ended her little speech uncertainly.

It was Izaya's turn to stare blankly before smirking at her smugly. "Don't fall for me now. I can't be favoring one human, you know that Chi-chan. I love you all!" he reminded her cheerfully.

Chihiro rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Shut up and I'll serve the food." She set plates for the two of them and began to eat while Izaya talked on about nothing and everything.

"He's not a bad cook. Too bad he's too smug for his own good." Chihiro thought lightly.

After the meal, she sent him on his way without too much of a hassle. Chihiro fell asleep happy that the day wasn't complete crap, and surprised that it had been because of Izaya off all people.

"I guess even he can be capable of being nice from time to time." She thought tiredly before dozing off.

While Chihiro slept peacefully, Izaya had been lying awake for hours. He didn't usually get much sleep, but tonight he couldn't seem to even take a quick nap.

"She liked the food. She thanked me. She smiled, just like before…." he thought almost in a daze as he watched Chihiro on his monitor. Izaya had installed cameras only facing her bed; he wasn't some pervert, but watching her sleep was a favorite pastime of his. Humans were so defenseless in sleep, so unguarded. Chihiro in particular never seemed to let her guard down around him.

"Today she did, at least a bit." Izaya reminded himself. He turned off the monitor and laid on his back to face the window above his bed. Izaya studied the stars, or at least the ones he could make out. It wasn't too bright in this part of the city, but stargazing still took some effort. He held out one hand, the palm turned upward, reaching out to the sky, to the dimly shining stars.

They almost seemed to fall into his hand.