For a few seconds, there was silence. Izaya gazed at her sudden change in behavior. Jane-chan was smiling again. That smile, which was small but oh so sincere. "Hey, Jane-chan?" the raven piped up. She hummed in response. "… Tell me, do you feel affection to the beings you didn't kill in the past?"

Her tired eyes flickered up at him, then Maemi's smile turned a little shy, "N-No, not particularly," she evenly denied but under those crimson eyes, the woman knew she wasn't fooling him. Maemi let her gaze fall upon the hybrid boardgame, "That obvious, huh?"

"Yep," he widely smirked.

She squirmed in her seat, "Is it weird?"

Izaya chuckled a little before answering, "Yep," he repeated.

"… Sorry… It's just- well…" the female struggled. "Can I explain it to you?" she cautiously asked unable to decide if this was a good idea or not.

"Of course! I'd love to know!" he exclaimed way too enthusiastically.

"Umm… Okay," the unknown woman said awkwardly glancing to the side. She took a moment to form words that at least made a little sense. "After learning so much about certain individuals and watching them, I know how they act, think, who they are as a person. They are either chunks of shit," the pale female spat, "Or precious little lost souls." Maemi's sweet and near to inaudible tones were naturally switched back on. "I know and understand their pain. What they feel becomes what I feel… somehow. It makes it seem like I'm close to them. As if they were my friend or little brother or… a sister…" the female fell silent. Sister…

"But they don't even know you exist," Izaya told her outright.

Anyone else would have felt like they'd been slapped in the face, but the brunette simply agreed. "Yeah, I know." It was probably for the best to stay that way… "But when I come into contact with them I can't help myself." She sighed heavily remembering when she bumped into Masaomi, not to mention the ordeal with the male in front of her. "I guess it's my maternal side," the woman chuckled. To be honest, it wasn't even a joke.

The raven took note of the way her eyes shifted from his, "Jane-chan, I don't really understand. I know a bunch of humans and I love all of them but I don't feel any attachment to any of them. Explain that part," he mildly instructed.

"Your definition of 'love' is very twisted. It's sad really… It means no one has ever loved you or showed you how…" A dull ring played in both their ears, "Sorry. That was a bit uncalled for…"

Izaya found the woman's comment to be kind of true but fuck saying that. At least not directly. "I really don't understand why humans don't love me back," Izaya proclaimed lightly, "I mean, I give them so much attention! What's not to love?" the raven enthused hiding the fact that his words were a question.

"Hmm… You give them too attention," the woman gingerly enlightened.

"Again, what's wrong with that?" Izaya countered so sure of himself. Jane-chan locked her eyes with his and stood up. "Jane-chan?" The brunette ran to her jacket hanging on the other end of the lounge's armrest. Rummaging through it she found a contact-lenses container to pinch out the color contact in her eyes and drop them inside the solution filled-container. She came prepared, surprisingly. Once she was finished, the golden-eyed woman seated herself right next to the raven making sure she was directing her frame to him. Giving him her full attention. "Ah… Jane-chan-"

"You'll get angry if I go into detail," she warned him. "Can we talk about it another time?" Maemi whispered.

Izaya blinked at her drooping eyes and the way she bit the inner of her lip, "But why?"

The raven could have sworn the woman turned ever so slightly pink, "Well, I don't want to ruin all the giggles and smiles. It's okay if we talk seriously but… I tried hard to brighten the mood, you know? I don't want to drag it down again," Maemi explained softly, garnet eyes gawking at her all the while. "So… is it okay?" she asked again.

"Hmm… Yeah, I suppose," the male sighed out, utterly surprising her that he didn't push on and on until- "But…" there was that 'but' again. "Why did you randomly take your contacts out?" he questioned, again throwing her off.

"Oh. Umm… I thought you'd end up forcing me to tell you and if you did that, and if you told you then I'd probably cry," the brunette hurriedly muttered. "If you cry with contacts in then you need to avoid rubbing your eyes and after crying, you should replace them," she summarized still speaking abnormally fast, obviously wanting to get her explanation over and done with.

"Ooo~ Now I really know," Izaya chirped.

"No! Some other time," she declined harshly. He whined with a loud hum, pouting in the process. The woman's hardened face gradually melted and a chuckle seemed to want to escape her lips. She left it free, leaning on the couch's headboard. Maemi felt her eyes getting heavy again. Relaxing there, it was so easy just to close her eyes.

"Are you tired, Jane-chan?" she heard the raven ask from beside her.

"Yeah… I had a looong day," she mumbled.

"You want a coffee so we can play another game?" Izaya abruptly offered, for some reason he felt wide awake. It had nothing to do with the fact he wanted to talk more with this human. Nope. Not what so ever. Nor that he was glad he could finally natter away to her without feeling he was conversing with someone else, thanks to those pesky contact-lenses that covered her golden almond eyes.

She female stifled a laugh, "Okay," Maemi whispered with her glowing eyes half-lidded.

"Then go make it," the male teased.

"Mmm~ But you're the one who-

"I was kidding, Jane-chan," the male said, though, it was somewhat untrue. "Don't fall asleep." He hopped up and skipped to the kitchen.

'Not promising anything.' The woman thought as she sunk even lower on the couch. Looking up at the bland high ceiling, she blinked slowly until she couldn't open her eyes anymore.

After a little clatter in the kitchen, Izaya came back with one mug in his hands. He knew she'd fall asleep. And with the woman's eyelids concealed her golden flaked irises; her slow yet deep breathing that made her chest rise and fall steadily. It was evident that he was correct. Dark chocolate strands of hair fell gracefully down ending at her defined collarbones that were being flaunted from the way her over-sized shirt that had slipped off her shoulder a bit.

"Jane-chan~" Izaya whispered to the woman but she didn't stir. The male sipped on his coffee wondering what to do now. And should he leave her like that? On the couch still sitting with her head dangling to the side. She'll most certainly have a crookneck in the morning. "Hmm…" Well, he did carry his sisters to bed on a few occasions way back when right? "Meh," he shrugged, setting down his mug and slowly aiming toward the sleeping woman. He touched her slightly exposed right shoulder with the tips of his fingers, only for the girl to flinch away. Izaya's eyes flickered up to see if she was awake. But surprisingly, Jane-chan was still asleep, apparently too worn out to wake up.

Normally she was on such high alert but she really let go of that tonight, huh? Izaya thought it would make more sense for her to build it up rather than throwing it away as she did. Why did she trust him enough to sleep so casually like this, anyway? Izaya guessed it was because he didn't do anything 'bad' last time… but, it also had to have been because of her strange, abnormal affection towards him…

A friend, huh? What did that even mean? If the woman meant anything on the lines of his relation to Shinra, then fuck that. But, so far, this experience of… acquaintanceship was completely different. Oh, who cares! Titles and that shit didn't matter.

'Jane-chan is simply just a human,' the raven reminded himself.

Once her body became relaxed, the raven tried again and caressed the soft skin. Wait, why didn't he just go for the covered part of her… Izaya pinched at the neckline pulling it up to its proper-ish placement.

"Mm…" she stirred.

"Shhh… Jane-chan. It's just me. It's called bedtime not couchtime for a reason you know," he mildly scolded her in barely a whisper. Though the female was sleeping, Izaya kept whispering to her. "You don't have to wake up. I'm just going to move you, okay? Because… you're kind of in the way here." It wasn't really true there was plenty of room in his apartment but it didn't matter if it was a shitty excuse. She was asleep after all.

Izaya slowly and gently scooped the girl up in… bridal style… That term didn't sit well with the male. It was the easiest way to carrying her is all. Izaya chuckled at how heavy Jane-chan actually was. She didn't look like it but he supposed the weight came from her muscle mass rather than fat. And it wasn't like he was struggling to hold her, it was just a little unexpected. "Then again, you did manage to take down those ruffians," he mentioned looking down on the girl. Her head now rested comfortably against Izaya's chest. If the male was interested he could easily see down the female's baggy shirt to her small cleavage. So obviously…

… He was looking. Though, he pulled his stubborn eyes up and away from the woman. Izaya ignored how his lips had slightly fallen apart at the sight. Forcefully pressing his lips back together, he headed toward his bedroom hidden away in the hallway upstairs. Sure, he had guest rooms but they didn't have beds already setup. It wasn't like Izaya had guests that often… or ever… to do so.

Looking ahead he had to dread the difficulty of opening the door with his foot. Once the door was finally ajar, the male moved the blankets out of the way and carefully placed the woman down. Maybe she thought he was a pillow again because it was proving quite the struggle to let go; for the woman had started carelessly hugging his arm. Izaya laughed at how much of a child she could be. "You need to let go, Jane-chan. I'm not tired yet." As expected, she still didn't answer. Nor did she grip tighter like in those romance movies or anime. "Make up your mind, Jane-chan. Jeez~" he teased, "Don't want to be touched and yet you hug me like no big deal… You're a weird one, huh?" Jane-chan, as if she listened, slowly turned over on her other side, letting Izaya's arm free. "So that's your choice? How mean~" He giggled and covered her with the blankets. After sitting on the edge of the bed for a while, staring at her, Izaya left… But only to turn off the lights outside. He soon came back and joined the woman in the king-sized bed. His coffee could wait until morning… wait… it already was morning. He thought about placing a pillow between them but then he wouldn't have one for his head sooo… Oh well…

As soon as he lied down his eyes felt heavy. That rarely ever happened. He turned to face Jane-chan sleeping what looked to be soundly. It was the first time Izaya only needed to lie in bed for ten minutes to fall asleep. And soon, the bed may as well have been just a double with the pair's proximity.

At the sound of a phone going off, Maemi jumped awake in an unfamiliar environment. She rapidly shot up into a sitting position with her knee up. Her heart was pumping as her eyes darted around the room. On the plus side, the woman noticed she wasn't tired up or unclothed or… sore.

"You okay there, Jane-chan?" a silky sleepy voice giggled out.

Maemi looked down at the voice's direction, "Am I… in your bed?" she asked relaxing the tiniest bit. Being in Izaya's bed was better than being in… someone else's… But it still wasn't okay.

"I gotta answer this," the male easily dodged the question, holding the ringing phone up as an excuse. Izaya pressed the accept button and held it to his ear. "Hello?" he tried to hold back a yawn. Maemi felt her heart slow to a more normal pace and she hesitantly lied back down, feeling a bit giddy from all the oxygen she just inhaled. She could hear the voice on the other end of the line.

"Oh! Izaya? Whoops! I clicked on the wrong name," a male's voice said.

"Well, that's very unlike you~" Izaya commented flipping over on his stomach.

"Who is it?" the woman questioned in a whisper.

"O- You have a girl with you?" the voice said in utter shock.

"Yes," Izaya said knowing what this pervert would think… but just for good measure. "You woke us up, Doc." The voice gasped in response; Izaya had to clasp a hand to his mouth to muffle his laughs. Maemi harshly narrowed her eyes, easily picking up on the insinuation.

"Does that mean you finally lost you virginit-

"Are you going to call the person you were meant to or not, Shinra?" The raven head had stopped laughing. He wasn't even a virgin. Izaya just never told anyone about that one time… that one time with Mikage… Urg… Sometimes he wished he could forget.

"Oh, Izaya, don't be so ashamed to be a cherry boy," Maemi 'consoled' patting him on the head, though that irritated-smirk couldn't be mistaken. Revenge. Izaya couldn't make up his mind whether it was better that these two didn't know or not. If Shinra knew, he'd probably ask for every fucking detail… No thanks.

"Oh… So it didn't happen," Shinra muttered. "Well, hope for the best next ti-

Izaya forcefully hung up the phone. 'He can be so annoying!' he irritably thought, turning to face the female beside him. But instead of that vengeful smirk, she now had a sad smile on.

"I wish I was a cherry girl," the woman spoke in a soft voice that could easily be broken.

She woman was letting down her guard again. An idiotic move really. Izaya thought about pushing her to that breaking point. It would be so effortless; for she, herself, had already gotten so close to the edge. She had set herself up for it and yet… Izaya could hear the ticks of a clock somewhere off in the distance. The sound went on and on, but he didn't push her. The male stared at her a little longer then stood up, "Want a coffee?"

"… Yeah," she nodded lifting the blankets off her. Maemi was thankful for the subject change but she needed to ask, "Hey… Did you carry me here?"

Izaya paused slightly before answering, "Why yes, I did! What? Would you have preferred to freeze on the couch?"

"Yes, I would have," she jokingly snubbed him thrusting her nose in the air.

"Oo! Ouchy! My feelings!" the male exclaimed, pressing a hand to his heart. Hearing her giggle lightly, Izaya again found himself staring at her and for whatever reason… he couldn't stop his faked pout from turning into a grin.

Okay... I know in an earlier chapter that it was 'a new experience for Izaya to be sleeping next to a woman'... But just because Mikage and Izaya totally did the dirty (in my opinion) it doesn't necessarily mean they slept in the same bed after or before the deed.

Again... I don't think the audience gets to find out how or if it happened in the original, but I have my own thoughts about it. Not in a dirty way! Creative thoughts and twists that I will share in the story later on. Remember that this fanfic is rated Mature for a number of reasons...