A/N: Hello again! So this is me updating on the new schedule, let's see if I can keep up with this, hm? Anyhow, this is when things start to change more for Mikado, as you can tell throughout the chapter. Also, the year skips will severely slow down by next chapter, and things will start to develop more deeply than they really have in the past. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and that you are still enjoying this story! I do not have much to say for this chapter, really. Oh, but I do have a little on-going project with this story. My 'beta' and I look for songs that suit the story whenever we can, as songs help me write. If you find any songs that you find are fitting, would you tell me? I love listening to new music, and the songs might help me get a permanent 'feel' on this story of mine. Thank you!

P.S. I most definitely did look up Japanese emoticons. You'll see. : P

Disclaimer: Durarara! belongs to its respective copyright owners.

Life for the next year was almost scheduled with how the days went by. During the days Mikado went to school, he would spend his lunch hours with Yagiri-kun, answer questions in class when the teacher asked him to and hand in his homework when he was supposed to. He would then spend an hour or so with Kasuka, being shortly joined by Heiwajima-san and Shinra and they would walk around town, look into stores, and watch as Heiwajima-san once again destroyed a building with his monstrous strength. Mikado would then go home, do his homework, and spend an hour or so with Celty watching television before he'd either start to make supper or set the table for Shinra while he made supper. It was all very ordinary, very boring, and very comfortable.

And then Shinra and Heiwajima-san went to high school.

It wasn't that their actual going to high school changed everything. They had new uniforms, harder subjects and more homework, but those were the only actual changes that they went through. No, it was the people they had met that changed everything.

To be specific, one person.

Shinra said they had known Orihara Izaya from middle school, but that they did not spend time with him because he mostly kept to himself. He was told to be perfectly average, with pale skin, dark hair and a grin that was more fox than human. Shinra thought he was interesting, though overall normal, and so that explained why he had never talked about him before – Shinra liked to talk about abnormal things (where Mikado fit in there, he wasn't quite sure). Heiwajima-san had never heard of him because Heiwajima-san was just…bad with people and names and faces in general (he had finally remembered Mikado's last name, though it had been almost two years since they had met).

Mikado did not get to meet Orihara Izaya when Shinra and Heiwajima-san did, though. First of all, he was from the school across from Shinra and Heiwajima-san's, so he did not see him when he went to the school to meet up with them. And just like in middle school, Orihara Izaya mostly kept to himself.

That all changed one day when Mikado came home from school to see Heiwajima-san chasing around a strange, laughing person around their apartment complex with what looked to be the elevator door.

Alarmed that Heiwajima-san was trying to kill someone, Mikado ran up the stairs to the apartment to see Shinra and Celty standing on the balcony, watching with interested expressions. After dropping his bag off by the couch and slipping out of his shoes, he joined them on the balcony and looked up as well, staring at the angrily yelling Heiwajima-san and the maniacally laughing stranger.

"Why is Heiwajima-san trying to kill that man?"

"Because he paid someone to hit him with a truck."

Reasonable enough.

"Why would he pay someone to hit Heiwajima-san with a truck?"

"Because he's an ass-hole, and there's probably something mentally off about him." Mikado looked over to see Shinra grinning as he said this, meaning that this person was abnormal and therefore Shinra's cup of tea.

"…Who is he?"

"Orihara Izaya-kun."

The cat-and-dog chase ended shortly after Heiwajima-san threw the water tower from the apartment complex at Orihara Izaya and caused a mass power outage within the vicinity due to the water tower crashing into the electrical lines. Orihara Izaya, either feeling responsible or completely bored, paid for the damages and decided to have dinner in the Kishitani-Sturluson-Ryuugamine household.

Heiwajima-san went home after being bandaged up by Celty, who seemed to have the ultimate soothing effect on him; whether this was because she could no talk or because she was just a calming person in general, Mikado was not quite sure. Yet when he left the apartment (by the stairs, as the elevator door was still lying in the hallway, propped up against a wall), he was significantly calmer, only twitching once or twice as he disappeared down the stairs.

Mikado had been left to take care of Orihara Izaya's wounds.

"Ah, thank you," the teenager said, looking up at Mikado as he sat in front of him and started to clean his bleeding hand. Shinra was in the kitchen with Celty, talking to her as he started on dinner that night. He sounded excited, as if he was expecting something wonderful to happen. Mikado had long ago stopped wondering what Shinra was expecting, as it was never anything he thought.

He nodded quietly, intent on his work to staunch the bleeding.

"I haven't seen you before. Are you a friend of Shinra's?"

Mikado shrugged, putting aside the soaked cotton ball he had and grabbed the salve that he would put on the now-staunched wound so that it could heal without infection.

"Oh, this is Mikado-kun, Izaya-kun!"

"Your little brother, that's right!" Mikado looked up briefly to see red eyes staring at him in interest, and he had to wonder who in Japan had red eyes. Well, really, who had blue eyes like himself? Perhaps he had foreign blood. "But I hear you don't have the same last name as Shinra, is that right?"

Mikado nodded once, putting aside the salve and grabbing the bandages. He started to methodically wrap the material around his knuckles, tight but not too tight, in case of cutting off circulation.

"What is it?"

"Ryuugamine," Mikado finally said, putting a metal clasp on the bandage and putting aside his medical tools, pushing himself upright. "Your hand should be all right now, Orihara-san."

"Ah yes, thank you, thank you," he said, looking at his handiwork before looking at Mikado again. Mikado stared back at him silently, waiting to see what he would say, wondering why he was so interested in talking to him in the first place. "…I hear you're very smart, Mikado-kun,"

"His teacher called the other day to tell us he has the highest mark in his class. We're very proud!"

"I'm sure," he said with a grin, one that made Mikado feel something horribly off with the man. He narrowed his eyes slightly in suspicion, wondering why someone this young could make him feel ill. "But I wonder…are you only academically smart?"

Mikado tilted his head to the side, blinking slowly at Orihara Izaya. What did he mean was he only academically smart? What other kinds of 'intelligence' were there, really? Izaya's grin widened as he leaned forward a bit, his strange red eyes looking into Mikado's equally strange blue. "Tell me, Mikado-kun…are you very good at seeing the 'big picture'?"

"…I suppose."

"So, say I was to give you a few puzzle pieces while keeping the rest to myself and hiding the box with the illustration, would you be able to figure out what the picture was based on those few puzzle pieces I give you?"

"…Most likely." Shinra had tested this once, and it was proven that he could, though it was not particularly enjoyable. Mikado did not like the expression on Shinra's face nor the awe in Celty's typed words after the experiment, as it made him feel like some sort of freak. He had been assured that he was not a freak, of course, but the feeling had not gone, and he was pretty sure Shinra was planning another kind of test sometime in the future.

Mikado watched as the grin on Orihara Izaya's face transformed from human to fox.

"How very…interesting," he said, straightening up and looking over his head to stare at the wall behind him. "Oh, and Mikado-kun?"

"Yes, Orihara-san?"

"Call me Izaya, if you would." At Mikado's questioning look, he merely smiled in a benign way, making Mikado feel even more uncomfortable; though now that he thought about it, was this discomfort from fear or…something else? "I just have a feeling we will be spending a lot more time together."

Izaya-san had been right when he had said they would spend a lot of time together.

Mikado still kept up in his studies, spent time with Shinra, Kasuka and Heiwajima-san, and still spent his evenings with Celty. But on certain days he would look out his classroom window to see Izaya-san leaning against the lamppost just outside of his school property, staring directly at him as if he knew where he was. At lunch hours he'd run out to where he was standing, wondering why he wasn't in school and why he would be at his.

Izaya-san liked to ask him a lot of questions.

"How old are you, Mikado-kun?"

"I turn eleven in a few months."

"Where are you from?"

"A country area, but I can't remember the name. I left when I was young."

"Why do you live with Shinra and that black rider?"

"They took me in when I came to Ikebukuro."

He never talked about Celty, if he could help it, as he felt that Celty did not want Izaya-san to know about her. He also tried to avoid talking too much about himself, what happened in his past, and why he was in Ikebukuro in the first place, but that was more for personal reasons than anything else. He knew that Izaya-san knew he was holding back information, but he had the feeling that Izaya-san did not mind much. Izaya-san seemed to want to learn about people by himself by digging into places he did not belong. He reminded him of a kind of cat then; a creature that thought highly of itself, and does not care where it is not supposed to go as it will just go where it pleases.

He wondered if Izaya-san's curiousity and mild self-importance ever got him in trouble, and then he would think of Heiwajima-san and his constant trying-to-kill Izaya-san. Not that Izaya-san seemed to mind; he seemed to enjoy pissing off the other teenager.

Izaya-san, as well as asking him questions all the time, tried to get him interested in things outside of school, like what was happening in Ikebukuro, rumours and legends all centred on the area. He did not need to try very hard to get him interested in things; though he lived in the city, he did not know much about it outside of what Shinra and Celty had told him.

It was Izaya-san who introduced him to colour gangs.

They had gone to a park after school, when Shinra was called in by his father (who was in town) to do some 'extra' studying' and Kasuka was busy reading scripts for his school play (he was fond of acting these days). Heiwajima-san he did not see unless he was with his brother, so it wasn't that odd that he didn't meet him after school. Mikado had not, at first, understood why they were at the park, though he did remember it from his very first day in Ikebukuro almost five years ago.

He had just walked up to the fountain he had walked along that first day when a group of teenagers pushed past him, sending him a brief glare before going on their way. He noticed, just as he had back then, that they all had scarves, hats or some article of clothing that was the exact same colour. This particular group was blue. He stared at them with curiousity, more curiousity than he had felt for anything within his life in Ikebukuro outside of the mystery that was Celty (who was slowly becoming known to him since that night on his birthday). He jumped when he felt Izaya-san's hand drop onto his shoulder.

"You shouldn't mess with them, Mikado-kun, they're a dangerous lot."

"Who are they?"

"You mean you don't know?" Instead of looking surprised, Izaya-san just grinned as if he had gotten his Christmas presents early. "Why, they're the notorious Blue Squares of course! They're a colour gang who have control over this area of Ikebukuro."

"Colour gang?"

"Really, and you live with Shinra?" Izaya-san laughed, sitting on the fountain and patting the spot next to him. Mikado sat down after him, looking at him with curiousity. "Colour gangs are really popular in the city, especially in Ikebukuro. They're groups of people who come together for a certain goal; whatever that goal is depends on the gang and its leader. Now, to differentiate who is in what gang, as there's a lot of them around here, they all wear certain colours that belong solely to that gang. So there are gangs like the Blue Square, the Red Herrings and the like. Usually they have their colour somehow integrated into their name."

Izaya-san paused at this point, thinking to himself before smiling a little. "I have an acquaintance that is like a branch section of the Blue Squares named Kyohei Kadota. He's a quiet guy, doesn't really stand out much and he's not really all that violent. But if you get him angry or you hurt one of his guys the last thing you'll see is a smile." Izaya then smiled, though it was foolish and clown-like, causing Mikado to snort in amusement. "Like this!"

"You know, Izaya-san, if you want me to take you seriously at all you are going to have to stop being so foolish."

"You wound me, Mikado-kun. How could you think I'm foolish?" Mikado simply stared at him in the way he always looked at Shinra when he asked why he thought he was so strange. It did not have the same effect on Izaya-san that it did on Shinra, though, who was usually cowed by the stare. Izaya-san just seemed amused.

"Anyhow, the Blue Squares have been in charge of this section of Ikebukuro for a long time now, and no one's bothered to try and oppose them." He rested his chin on his palm, elbow on his crossed knees as he looked out at the park, staring intently at the group of people in blue. "I wonder what it would be like, for them to have a little opposite, ne, Mikado-kun?"

Mikado turned to look at him, intent on asking him what he meant when he paused, narrowing his eyes at Izaya-san's expression. It seemed like he was plotting something, and he wasn't sure if he liked the idea or not.

Izaya-san plotting just seemed like a bad thing.

On Mikado's eleventh birthday, Shinra finally got around the setting up the computer he had gotten for his ninth birthday. The day was spent quietly with just family, as Kasuka had a dress rehearsal, Heiwajima-san most likely forgot, and Izaya-san said he was meeting up with a friend about something important. Mikado did not mind spending his birthday with just Celty and Shinra, as it meant that for once his birthday would be a quiet affair with little fanfare and no broken furniture/doors/windows/etc. (The overall cost of his birthday this year would be significantly lower than past years, which was nice.)

After dinner and cake and presents (a book from Celty about the Dullahan, which was what she was and a cell phone from Shingen and Shinra so that he could contact them if he was going to be gone for a while and needed to tell them), Mikado went to his room and, after reading the instructions, turned on the computer for the first time.

It was interesting, learning about the inner workings of his computer and the internet and the World Wide Web. He enjoyed going to different sites, typing in keywords to search engines, finding online chat sites, art sites, literature sites and sites with information he had never known before. He gloried in the online encyclopaedias, the websites dedicated to information on events in history, people, manga and anime, the sites where he could find merchandise to buy and to sell.

Overall, Mikado fell in love with the internet like so many before him.

It had been when he was exploring a website where people around the world could talk to one another when he saw something that immediately caught his eye. It was one of the people talking, telling someone about how he had to do homework that he had no interest in.

It wasn't that he knew the school he went to, or even that he thought the person was whining for no reason other than they were lazy. He knew the speech the person was using. He recognized the way the person talked, even though they were online.

Without really thinking about it he made an account on the website and went back to the conversation to see the person he recognized sending out a request for someone to help him with his homework, as he was doomed if he didn't have it finished for tomorrow.

Tanaka Taro: What's the subject?

Bakyura: It's English. I'm /horrible/ at English! Wait – do you think you can help me?

Tanaka Taro: Probably. I'm decent at English.

Bakyura: Tanaka-san, you're a lifesaver! Let's go on a private chat so that we don't clutter the forums, all right?

Tanaka Taro: Sure.

A window suddenly popped up on the screen over the chat he had been in, and he looked to see that it only had their names in the board. So that was a private chat. He'd have to look up how to do that after he checked to see if this was the person he thought it was.

Bakyura: Okie-dokie! So, Tanaka-san, I have to do this sheet for school tomorrow and if I don't have it done my teacher is going to flay me. Think you can help me?

Tanaka: What are the questions?

Bakyura: Mostly it's translating words from Japanese to English. I'm okay for the most part, but there are a couple of words here that I /just/ don't recognize and I need to have the entire sheet done.

Tanaka Taro: Can I have the words please, Bakyura-san?

Bakyura: Sure~! They're [Hospital], [University] and [Museum]. I kind of recognize them, but I just can't figure it out! Haha, I must seem totally uncool.

Yeah. It was the person he was thinking about. He smiled a little bit as he looked at his English-to-Japanese dictionary, finding the words before he typed out the answers to the other person. After they were done that, he stopped him from leaving with a question.

Tanaka Taro: I'm sorry to seem so sudden, but did you know someone named Ryuugamine Mikado when you were about six years old?

Bakyura: …Hey, I did! I haven't really thought about him for a long time. He ran away after his parents died. I lost contact with him. He was a good friend. Quiet and shy, and really sensitive about his name – seriously, his name is really pretentious sounding, isn't it? But it's neat at the same time – but I pretty much considered him a best friend. Why, do you know where he is? !

Tanaka Taro: Haha, I do.

Bakyura: Where? ! I totally want to meet up with him again!

Tanaka Taro: Really?

Bakyura: Yeah!

Mikado sat back, looking at the words and wondering if he should actually reveal himself. He seemed like he meant what he had said though. Shrugging to himself, he put his hands back on the keyboard and began typing.

Tanaka Taro: He's going to attend middle school in the fall. Right now he's in an elementary school that is close to Yagiri Pharmaceuticals. He's in class A. Really smart.

Bakyura: I've heard about the genius in class A – I go to the same school – so wait, that's Mikado?

Tanaka Taro: Haha, it is.

Bakyura: Wow~! So how do you know him, Tanaka-san?

Tanaka Taro: ...Uhm…because it's me.

He watched as the other person stayed quiet, and he felt like his stomach was plummeting. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he wouldn't believe he was telling the truth. Maybe he should have just stayed out of it.

Bakyura:…Mikado?

Tanaka Taro: . . .

Bakyura: Σ(ﾟДﾟ) MIKADO! I can't believe it, how did you find me? ! Where have you been? ! Why haven't you tried to contact anyone from back home? ! Do you know how crazy I was when they said you ran away? !

To say he was surprised would be an understatement. Mikado was completely floored by the response he got from his long-lost friend. He then smiled fondly, though with a sad feeling to it, and typed the only thing he could think of.

Tanaka Taro: I missed you too, Kida-kun.