Author here! Thank you, thank you to my third reviewer! I couldn't message you back because you're a 'guest' sooo... here will do! (I know I don't need to reply but I just like to) It makes me so happy to know that someone is actually bothered to comment on my work... and a nice one at that! Thank you again to TheOrangeLight and shizuchan... damn I'm bad at remembering numbers... 6? 680? no... (damn have to check)... 510! The hell did I get the 6 and 8 from? Anyway! I'm rambling! Maybe it's the caffeine... Oh well.

Disclaimer: This chapter contains similar themes to the last... so be warned. It's not violent though.

'Guest'-chan! You asked for me to update and I am here to provide! So, without further ado... I hope you enjoy!

Maemi… no, Jane. Jane downed the last sip of her coffee, somewhat regretting just blurting out her first murder in such high detail. But fuck it. Izaya was the one who wanted to know. If he couldn't handle it, that was his problem. Although, from the looks of that wide smirk across his face, it seemed he had no problem with her disturbingly graphic descriptions. "So," Jane said, her tone surprisingly still casual. "Am I going to get anything in return for all that?" she asked.

Izaya hummed for a long time, pressing an index finger to his chin, "Depends on what it is you're asking for."

"Wow," the female laughed a little, "I thought you'd give a straight up 'no'."

The raven grinned staring into the, lacking, contents of his cup. "I would have but," he pause, "You've put in a delightful mood," he slyly told her.

Jane scrunched up her face in almost disgust, "How can- What- But I-" the woman seemed to forget how to formulate sentences, deciding to simply shake her head in disapproval.

Even with her incoherent and unspoken words, Izaya knew exactly what she meant. "Excuse me, Jane-chan. But you're the one who repeatedly stabbed the man and I'm merely the listener. Why am I the one that's so despicable? Shouldn't that be you?" he pointed at her. "And let's not forget. Now that you've remembered much pain you forced him to endure, you're in much higher spirits." Izaya let out a small snigger.

The woman froze at the words, opening and closing her mouth several times before finally managing, "I… I am?" she asked. She thought back and realized it was true. "I am," she repeated but this time, it was a statement. The brunette gave breathy laugh that grew into a little chuckle. "It's official… I'm crazy."

Izaya was on his way home with a skip in his step. Jane-chan had given him quite an exciting story. He didn't expect any of the outcomes he received from that little break in last night. So many things happened he couldn't believe in the minimal amount of time. Maybe it had something to do with how the woman and he stayed up pretty late, just chatting and gaming and… more chatting. Izaya had contradicting feelings about everything that happened but, like with usually every negative feeling he had, the male discarded and undermined it easily. Not to mention distracted himself with other, more important things.

It seemed the woman was a lot uglier on the inside than what he first thought. The male could hear the malicious satisfaction in Jane Doe's tone as she spoke. Izaya recalled how she closed her eyes to lucidly envision inflecting harm upon that man. Her lips twitched every now and then as if deciding whether to frown or smile. In the end, she settled on the latter.

He wondered why it so easy to get her like that. So loose-tongued about everything. Was it that she actually wanted to talk about it? She wouldn't have said anything to anyone at all until now. There's only so much a human can hold back. Maybe that was her limit. The male giggled at the thought.

And what did she mean she wasn't kidnapped? Izaya knew Jane-chan wasn't lying about her father not doing it and that she doesn't have a brother… She didn't say siblings though. Does the unknown woman have a sister or sisters? Oh well… that didn't really matter. It wasn't her family otherwise they'd be dead. The brunette was telling the truth there too. Well, really, it's just that Jane-chan was a foolishly honest person most of the time.

If she wasn't kidnapped, did she go of her own free will? No. That's didn't make any sense. Unless she didn't know what she was getting in to? After all, she only would have been eight-years-old since that was when she was first ra-

'Don't fucking say that word,' Jane's words echoed in Izaya's head.

But only for a moment. '… since that was when she was first raped,' he briskly finished the thought and continued. But if a human is tricking an eight-year-old into coming with them, wherever they were going, then that is kidnapping. So that couldn't be the case.

Learning Jane-chan's first ever murder only made Izaya even more interested in finding out what happened before and after. Izaya had many clues but he needed to fill in all the empty gaps. Her captor had underlings. His room was luxurious. There were other girls with her who 'gave up fighting,' as Jane-chan put it. Jane was there for five years. They used roped on her first but after she broke her wrist they switched to handcuffs of some kind… assumably.

Who was her captor? Who did she kill next? His underlings? But how many followers did he have? If there were many girls imprisoned, it's only natural to believe he had many men to rely on to keep a watch on the caged so they didn't try to escape. Then again, how girls were there? Jane-chan made it sound like there were a few; more than five, surely. But what were his reasons for keeping the girls? Was he like Adachihara – who bought girls to quench his sexual desires?

The captor was obviously rich by the term "King" that Jane-chan used; so he'd have the funds for buying them. But how did he get rich? Was it something on the side, or… did it have to do with the girls? Was the man selling the girls on the black market? No. It wouldn't benefit him, profit wise. And Jane-chan was there for five years. With her delicate facial features, porcelain skin, and golden flaked eyes; many would assume she'd be one of the first to be sold. Unless he kept his favorites… But a man like that, greedy and lust driven wouldn't want to give any of his 'possessions' away. Izaya had known many humans like him. They were all the same. Boring.

If he wasn't selling the girls then… Izaya only now realized how his skipping had ceased from being in deep thought. The raven stuffed his hands in his pockets and gave it loud hum as he kept his pace steady. If Jane-chan's captor wasn't selling the girls… Wait… Something very dark had clicked in Izaya's mind. The captor wouldn't have to completely sell them. He could just sell their bodies. Not dead of course – there'd be no profit there. Just selling the girls for a moment, to be… alone with the buyer. It would be like prostitution, it's just that it's not self-selling and being unwilling.

Well, that's pretty fucked up… but also a plausible theory.

The place would be like a whorehouse. The man would have been making bulks amount of money that way. Instead of selling the females outright, this way he'd always have 'customers', regular and new. And since he had underlings they'd probably join in on the 'fun' as well. And he would have been able to take advantage of the girls himself. Two birds with one stone, they say. Knowing the dark side of the human race, this really wouldn't surprise Izaya Orihara.

Does that mean the captor bought more girls to make more of a profit? Does that mean… he bought Jane-chan… It's not really kidnapping, in the traditional sense, if you're buying someone, right? But even then, doesn't that mean she was stolen but someone else beforehand?… No. Not if the seller was her own parent-

"IIIIIZAAAAYAAAA!" a booming voice split through his thoughts.

Izaya turned to the blonde who was pulling a road sign out of the ground. Ironically, the sign said what he was thinking. 'Stop.' He let out a sigh and flipped open his blade. Why now of all times? Izaya wasn't really feeling like annoying Shizu-chan at the moment. Any other time the raven would've jumped at the chance. But dodging metal poles and vending machines was going to be difficult with his thoughts and hypotheses practically drowning him.

Did Jane-chan's parents sell her?

Jane sat on the white suede couch, unconsciously twirling the dull blue closed blade around in her hand. Now with Izaya gone, her memories seemed to eat away at her. Why did it have to be so easy to recall the feeling the hands all over her body, and hot breath upon her back, chest, neck or ear. Vividly recollect the pain of being stretched opened by those men. Hear their groans of fucking pleasure, while she screamed in excruciating pain!

If she tried to dredge up killing all of them, on purpose to make her 'feel better', was that bad? One way, it was completely a 'yes'. It was revolting, how could she even think that? And then, there's the other side which was an utter 'no', of course, it's okay. They deserved it. They most certainly got-off on remembering raping the girl. So this could be her little way of getting more revenge, even after death.

Black or white? Jane had a habit of only seeing things through this looking-glass. How could something be both? How could something be grey?

Attempting to ignore the memories flooding her brain and the anger and hatred that she felt, only made the woman feel hollow. Why did she that? It never makes her feel better. Jane remembered that in the past, whenever she felt that emptiness the unknown woman pushed it away tried filling it with other things. Like when she was finally done with getting all her revenge, instead of stopping there, she kept going; killing for others since already being in the position of assassinating people for money. She couldn't exactly remember when that started but she knew how. Somewhere along the way, someone thanked her.

A girl, maybe, only one year younger than the unknown teen, thanked her for killing the man on top of the girl. Of course, Jane had done it for herself. When she saw him, he had obviously not changed; they never do. Never.

The younger repeated the words, "Thank you. Thank you." She said them again and again until her words were a slur, her sobs and wails overtook her voice. The girl crawled her way to Jane and hugged at her legs, all while Jane stood there in shock. Looking down she noticed that the girl was fully clothed… it didn't happen yet. Though, she still could feel the girl's shaking. Jane felt something twist in her stomach, a pang in her chest. She didn't know what she was feeling at the time mistaking for pity and sorrow.

Only a few months later, it happened again only it reminded Jane too much of what she went through. A blonde woman was caged and skinny as if being underfed for a long time. Jane could see the bones of her spine and her sunken face when she slowly turned around. Her arm was broken and blood streamed down her legs.

"Get out," the blonde's voice came out raspy as if she had used it too much in the last hour. "Get out of here. H-He'll get you too," she warned. The elder woman waved her unharmed hand to urgently shoo Jane away. Here the blonde was frail and almost dying, as she warned a stranger.

"He already has," Jane told her, "But it won't happen again. He can't hurt me… or you anymore." The unknown girl tried picking open the lock on the woman's cell but she was still in need of practice at the time. The woman stared at Jane's bloodied hands as she finally got it open.

"Thank you,"

Those words again. The feeling in her chest and stomach was completely different. Jane let a small smile play on her dry lips, "It's a pleasure."

That's when she started doing the dirty work for others as well. That's when she really started cleaning up the human race. Rapists, child molesters, parents who commit infanticide… murderers. Name anything. Jane has killed at least one or two or thirty of each. No one else was going to do it. That shaking girl who hadn't even experienced being raped was so scared and helpless; a quaking ball on the dirty floor. The dying blonde who could barely walk even with Jane's helping hand. No one else could do it.

But when her self-tasks were all accomplished, she had nothing to focus on other than… her memories, her feelings. But, no! She didn't want to remember! No matter how much she told herself; it was over and done with, that those men and some women were dead, and that they couldn't hurt her.

She tried to forget about it but all that did was bring about that emptiness. She never wanted to admit that even after all that she did… it didn't… it didn't- Never! It did help! It changed everything! It did have meaning, it wasn't senseless killing! They deserved it! And so many more deserve it! Her work wasn't done! And so… She crammed herself with other peoples' problems to avoid the nothingness.

As to why she stopped? Well, the birth rate versus the rate of her killing activity was outrageous… That was just an excuse. The real one? Yes, she wanted to have a new life. Izaya, the son of a bitch, was completely right. And she wanted to run from anything got to do with her past – other than the people she spared and cared for, of course.

Then again, maybe that was just a new way to not feel empty- No! That wasn't true!…

… Jane wanted a normal life. Or as normal as it could get. She wanted all the blood to wash away. She didn't want to do such disgusting things that made her actually vomit on a few occasions. Her mind had become so distraught and rotten over the years. And when she stalked her targets who turned out to be normal people with good hearts, excluding Izaya Orihara, it was like she was inspired. Inspired to be… human. It was okay to be sad, feel pain, be scared, or jealous, and angry… so very angry. It was normal to feel the emotions that she pushed away for years on end. And slowly, her mindset of "who else is going to clean up the human race" dissipated.

It didn't have to be her. It didn't have to anyone! She found herself not caring as much. Sure she still hated those revolting men but… as selfish as it sounded… it was someone else's problem. The victim had to either 'accept' and somehow 'move on', or bring justice upon the assaulter, or whatever the fuck the problem was! They needed to choose; like Jane did. Jane wouldn't be there for them anymore. Why should she? No one was there for her! The mother and father sold her to that bastard! Jane's sister turned her back on her! The other girls imprisoned sighed with relief when the men chose little young Jane! Time after time of screaming for help and it NEVER CAME! NO ONE CAME!

… No one came for her.

She wouldn't do it anymore. She couldn't help someone who never helped her. She was done with that. Only that one blonde woman cared what happened to her! And she was dead! She bled out while making their escape. Was that the only reason why she decided to 'help' others?

'Fuck it. Fuck other people. Do the dirty work yourselves motherfucker! And make sure that you've got the right person, you miserable cunt! You have hands! Dirty them! Do whatever the fuck you want! How dare you have the audacity to tell me to kill when you're too scared to do it yourself!'

Why didn't she think of it ages ago? Why didn't she just face her problems and not barge into someone else's? Why didn't she start a new life when she murdered that last man who ra-

But as Izaya said, she'll never be able to fully run away from what happened. She already knew that. A perfect happy life doesn't exist no matter who you are. No matter what name… No matter what title you give yourself. 'Pure water.' 'A truthful smile.' The idea was almost laughable. As if that was ever going to fucking happen.

Jane deeply sighed noticing the slight shake of it, "Damn. Izaya, you asshole," she muttered, "making me rethink all this shit." She looked down at the blade in her right hand for the first time. The female let it drop seeming to fall in slow motion as she watched it hit the ground. Jane quickly toppled to the floor grasping the knife to her chest holding it tight; never wanting to let go of it again. Why did she keep this thing? It was the start of her despair. Why did she cling to it? Maybe Izaya could tell her.

The woman put the knife back on the side of her hip; when her eyes fell upon a black something. She picked it up and saw the tiny lens. It was a camera. Izaya said that it came off the big guy when she hit him. Jane had forgotten about it until now. She was glad that she found it. That douche must have not reminded her on purpose. She stared into the camera as a small chuckle escaped her lips. "He'll never change." Jane placed the lens down and stomped on it forcibly.

When said douche wobbled into his apartment, he instantly let him collapsed onto the couch. Izaya could practically feel the bruises appearing all over his body. "Shizu-chan's such a pain," he groaned with a grin as he forced himself back up. "Better get the disinfectant."

After cleaning his injuries and slapping on some band-aids, a job Shinra would've laughed at, Izaya slumped into his spinny chair. He let it twirl once before rolling forward into the desk. The raven didn't really do much traditional work today nor yesterday so it was about time to get started.

However, he found his mind kept pulling Jane-chan up. Before he met and spoke to the woman, Jane Doe really didn't matter all that much when she suddenly stopped stalking the raven. But he made sure to keep tabs on where and who she was in case she came back to kill him. But after five months, Izaya completely lost track of her. There were suddenly no eyeball stabbings or people going 'missing' or at least the rate dropped considerably. Until the fateful day, he saw a nineteen-year-old walking down the streets of Ikebukuro clutching at something under her oversized sweater. He knew the shape all too well, a knife. Now, why would an innocent little girl be carrying a knife on streets with police about? Looking into 'Maemi Shimizu' he found his previous stalker or potential assassin. The girl seemed utterly tedious but knowing at least some of her background intrigued him but not enough to be bothered in approaching her. Not to mention that Izaya didn't want to die sooo…

But when he ran into her, or rather, when Shizu-chan ran into her; Izaya couldn't help himself. He had quite the bad habit of flirting with death all too often even though he never ever welcomed it. It was like his bad eating habit! It's not as if he liked the feeling of being hungry not liked the idea of starvation; it's just that he'd simply forget. Sometimes, Izaya just forgot that he could potentially be in danger. But when the threat did appear, he'd remember again so it wasn't something to worry about too much… right?

But back on topic! Before, Jane-chan had simply been a human on the side. Someone who wasn't forgotten but just didn't have a grandstand on his broad. But even now, she still didn't fit anywhere. Surely, she was none of the shogi pieces. If he used her as a pawn, she'd kill him. Jane-chan wouldn't be his knight obviously. Bishop? That would be hilarious. She had committed too many sins to represent Church. And she couldn't be a simple Othello piece. Jane-chan had more sides to her than only two. So why was he so determined to find out who she was? Interest alone? That seemed a little non-profitable… 'Oh well. Guess I'll just have to make an exception.' The male giggled.

Author speaking! Did anyone notice that in the last chapter when referring to Ma- Jane-chan, I only used descriptions like 'the woman' or 'brunette' etc. Well, this is the reason why! Just so you know her 'name' (so to speak) will be Jane Doe or Jane-chan now. I was planning on doing it sooner but with short chapters, it's kind of hard to do. I'm trying to make them longer, however... finding time to do so is going to be harder from now on. I'm sorry. But all the same! I'll do my best to keep on track!

Oh and, again, please tell me if I'm going too far with... the sexual assault.