Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara! I do own my OCs though and any unrecognizable characters in the story. Contains few prompt sentences I found on tumblr.

Where'd you go, huh?

They all think I know you,

It's so hard to motivate,

Me to devote a,

Single inch of me to

Something I can't see I,

Don't mean to pry but why,

Would you even make the eyes?

I don't believe my errors,

And I'm scared of my own head,

I will deny you for years,

Then I'll make you raise me from the dead,

- Twenty One Pilots; Be Concerned

CHAPTER 3

His Intentions

July 12th 2005

For what he had implied after walking her home a few nights ago, she would've thought that he'd never leave her alone. But there she was, enjoying a quiet Sunday morning without any trace of the unnerving boy. And so she found herself pondering over the unusual peace he seemed to let her enjoy. It was so unlikely him. Not that she'd know what was normal for the boy. Everything that she did know about Izaya was purely and solely based on the things everyone else had to say about him. But it still seemed too peaceful. And such peacefulness could usually lead to only one thing. Momoko would be lying if she said that he wasn't slowly getting to her.

"See you around Momo-chan" He winked, his lips curling in a playful grin that to her looked like a bad omen.

She didn't dare tell anyone about their latest encounter with Heiwajima-san and quite frankly the girl was quite surprised that the blond boy didn't mention anything when their paths crossed in the school's corridor two days ago. He didn't even look at her. She wasn't sure whether the older boy simply didn't notice her or if he decided that after seeing her and Izaya it would be better to ignore her. Apparently, that was the case with almost everyone at Raijin. Not even two days after the incident on the roof she started noticing that while people liked to stare at her and whisper about her when they thought she wasn't paying attention, they also avoided her like a plague.

And what it truly made her realize was that while Orihara was like a human magnet for attention, he was also someone who people avoided at all costs. And now since they saw her talking to him quite a few times they must've thought she should be avoided too. But Shizuo ignoring her somehow couldn't get out of her mind. For some reason, Momoko found it incredibly hard to believe that he did it because of the others. Heiwajima was many things but he most certainly was not someone who would do that without a real reason. He wasn't someone who would avoid Izaya's victims. If anything, Shizuo would have been the first one to approach them and voice what exactly he felt about them socializing themselves with the troublesome boy. She really started believing that he didn't see her that night. But then again, who wouldn't have noticed a girl, bouncing on one of Orihara's shoulders as he darted through the busy streets of Ikebukuro, all this while skilfully avoiding flying trashcans. There had to be another reason.

Besides the various calls from the police and a visit to the police station, nothing out of ordinary happened. After all the reports were filled, Inoue-sensei was proved guilty of sexual harassment and the case had been closed. From what the police had told her, the man was facing a few years in jail. The whole case was surprisingly kept private and Momoko couldn't be more relieved to know, that no one knew about the whole incident. Although she hated to admit it, Orihara had helped her. He had also saved her from Shizuo, even though she highly doubted that the short-tempered boy would have actually tried to hurt her. But she was also pretty sure than anyone in Orihara's position would have had left her without hesitation. But despite the bad reputation that surrounded him, he didn't. He didn't leave her. Ignoring her protests and struggles, he decided to take her with him, risking himself getting caught by Heiwajima. Even when he realized that she was slowing him down in some aspects, he kept going.

In some strange way, she didn't hate him as much as she used to. But then again she was never able to understand her own feelings, always trying to stay neutral and avoid having to deal with them. So for all she knew, she could have hated him even more at this point. Not only because of what he had done but because of what he was going to do. And she knew exactly what the boy was trying to accomplish. Orihara was trying to coax her into giving into him. Into believing his every word. Into trusting him. And quite frankly, she was letting him.

Momoko wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was due to the arising and ever-present curiosity that she held deep within her heart. Or maybe it was the danger and mysterious air that seemed to not only surround Orihara but also ooze out of him like he was the center of the same machine that stirred everyone else. And in some ways he was.

The wind chimes on her porch tinkled softly in the warm summer breeze and she was yet again reminded of the nearing summer break. The brunette closed her eyes, relishing in the nice weather as the door behind her creaked open, revealing a bare-chested and grizzled Shinra, his eyes dark with lack of sleep. She turned around, groaning mentally to herself at the disheveled teen in front of her. Shinra yawned, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand when a sneeze escaped his mouth.

"Shinra, I told you to stay in bed!" She groaned, scolding the older boy as a guilty, crooked smile appeared on his unusually pale face. What was she supposed to do with him?

"But it's so boring Momo-chan!" He whined, causing her to wonder which of the two of them was actually older. At least mentally. "Celty's working and there's nothing interesting on TV!"

"Well, it's not like it's my fault," She shrugged, mildly annoyed, yet still inwardly grinning to herself as she eyed the pathetic creature that so happened to be her cousin. Oh sweet, sweet revenge. "How did you even catch a cold?! It's the middle of summer!" At that, a faint, bashful blush appeared on his cheeks as he scratched his head. She knew exactly why the bespectacled boy was sick but god did she love to torture him like that.

"You love to make me feel like an idiot, don't you?" He sighed, plopping himself next to her on the porch.

"First of all, you are an idiot. And second yeah I do" Despite the usual bickering between the two, Shinra couldn't help but smile ever so blissfully as he gazed over the fence as if waiting for his lover to come home. Momoko eyed him from the corner of her eye, all this while fighting the urge to ask him about - as he liked to call it - his 'undying love' for the headless woman. On days like this when the opportunity of observing the boy in his haze arose, she often found herself dwelling on the complex aspect of being so completely and utterly in love like her cousin.

Momoko found it incredibly hard to imagine herself, forming an attachment to someone else beside her family. And even her attachment to her family wasn't all that strong and pure. Truth be told it was mostly based on the fact of shared blood and wanting a rooftop over her head rather than unconditional love. Sometimes it made her wonder whether her being sent to live with Shinra had to do something with that.

Forming true friendships with humans was another thing that seemed impossible. Her only friend was a headless woman, who most certainly wasn't a human being. And her cousin? She wasn't sure what she thought about him. But besides, the two, she didn't really have friends. There was Kyohei, for sure, but beside their latest conversation they didn't have much to talk about.

And ten there was Orihara. The only person, besides Momoko who seemed to be even lonelier than she was. But then again, Orihara was many things, but he most certainly wasn't her friend.

On Wednesday Momoko was walking to school. She hadn't seen Izaya since Tuesday last week and from what she's heard, he hadn't been to any of his classes since that day. It wasn't anything out of unusual since the boy was quite known for skipping school and so she decided to not make a big deal out of it. It's not like she cared about his whereabouts, anyway. They hardly knew each other.

If nothing, she was glad that he decided to not involve himself with her life for the past week. But what worried her was the fact that from what she's noticed Orihara had a bad habit of entering her personal life in the most unfortunate moments. It was almost as if he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to slip into it again, only for him to leave when things calmed down and became boring again.

Shinra was still rotting away at home and at this point, she wondered whether he was faking it so Celty would take care of him. She smiled half-heartedly to herself at the mere thought of the poor headless woman who had been on Shinra's every call for the past few days.

"Hey, you!" A familiar voice reached her ears, causing her to stop in mid tracks as she cursed herself internally for not walking faster. She turned around, meeting the dark eyes of Heiwajima's familiar face. "You...uh. What was your name?" He finally approached her.

"Momoko" She eyed him with the ever-present curiosity in her amber eyes. Shizuo seemed to stare unblinkingly back at her as if he himself was curious about the girl who he knew so little about.

"Ah, right..." He scratched the back of his neck, and despite the awkward gesture, he looked anything but ashamed. His face was calm and composed and so was his voice. For a moment she expected him to say something but when he walked past her without saying a word she dismissed the thought. He came to a halt and turned around, now facing her with a small frown adorning his handsome face. "We're going to be late if you don't start walking" He grumbled out, all traces of his previous mood gone. But he didn't seem annoyed. If anything, he was acting rather... awkward.

Momoko nodded her head, still bewildered and curious as she observed the back of his head as they walked down the street. If he sensed her staring at her he chose to not say anything and so she continued on staring him down as if watching his every move would help her understand his train of thoughts.

"Stay away from that flea" His harsh words snapped her out of her haze. She expected him to continue but that was the only thing he had said throughout the whole way to Raijin. All those people who told her to stay away from Orihara acted as if she didn't already know that. She let out a single sigh upon entering the school building.

Izaya proved absent throughout the whole final week of the first semester and the peace that engulfed the whole school was unbearably unsettling to not only her but everyone else. Some of his 'worshippers' tried to ask her about his whereabouts since she was the last person he had been seen with. And every time her reply sounded 'no'. She had no idea why they all assumed she would know where he was.

She being the loner that she was that everyone seemed to avoid never really had an occasion to talk to any of the girls before and so she was quite shocked when three of them walked up to her as she was eating her lunch.

Mumbling to herself she took another bite out of her lunch box, closing her eyes as she did so. It was a moment of peace she let herself enjoy, her eyes half closed as she sat on one of the benches in the school's yard. Too occupied with her food, she failed to notice three girls who approached her, now surrounding the bench she was sitting on. She opened one of her eyes, eyeing the girls in front of her. Momoko quickly recognized one to be one of her classmates. Sharaku Mikage.

"Miyazawa-san" A visibly older girl addressed her, to which she was met with Momoko's blank expression. "I'm Okumura Chiyoko, it's nice to meet you", "Akiyama Shiori" They two girls whose name's she did not know briefly introduced themselves but their names were quickly forgotten as Momoko decided there was no point in memorizing the names of people she didn't plan to come in closer contact with in the near future. Without saying a word she let them ask her questions about Orihara to which she mostly responded with 'don't know' or 'nope'.

"Why do you follow him?" Momoko finally asked, her words seeming to pierce through them. The three of them shared a look, before the oldest one of them finally decided to speak.

"He's helped us all in tough situations. He's always been there for us...I can't express how thankful I am to Orihara-san." They all nodded before Okumura-san smiled cheekily to herself. "Also have you ever looked at him? He's so handsome!"

Momoko sent them a crooked smile, all the while saying "Well, so was Lucifer, and I hope you're not, trying to follow him too." She would always remember the looks on their faces after the words left her mouth.

"Freedom!" She heard one of her classmates cry out upon hearing the final school bell. The summer break had officially begun.

Making her way out of the almost empty classroom, her eyes spotted a familiar head with shaggy hair, standing next to two boys clad in the Raijin Academy's school-uniforms. Shinra was too busy talking to the two to notice his cousin. Kyohei turned around his eyes meeting hers as a small smile appeared on his face. Shizuo settled for a blank expression as he raised one of his eyebrows at the approaching girl.

"Oh! Momo-chan!" Shinra finally seemed to notice the girl, who now stood next to the blond, much taller boy.

"Let's just get out of here. I'm not wasting my summer in this hellhole, any longer" She said, passing right by her cousin, who could only shrug at her in response.

The first week of the summer break was surprisingly uneventful and what she would call pretty 'mundane'. Aside from Shinra being his usual weird self and her's and Celty's trips to various districts of Tokyo it really was mostly Momoko being bored out of her mind. She even went as far as to consider trying to hang out with Heiwajima or Kyohei and out of the uncertainty of the former's boy reaction she's settled for Kadota's company which proved to be one of the best ideas she's had in a long time.

Kadota was nice enough to introduce her to some of his friends from other schools. One of them being Togusa Saburo an older boy from Kushi Highschool.

Momoko sipped on her cool drink as she waited for the two boys who were probably still standing in the line at the grocery store. If not for the fact that she knew how slow the old cashier lady could be, she would've thought they were doing it out of spite to simply annoy her. She put a hand over her eyes, trying to hide from the blinding sun when suddenly someone appeared in front of her. Their shadow enveloping most of her petite form. She smiled in relief, assuming the shadow to come from the clouds that covered the sun.

"There you are, Momo-chan!" His chirpy yet unbelievably smug voice reached her ears and for a moment she really didn't want to open her eyes as she fought the urge to groan. When he didn't seem to move from his spot, her eyes snapped open, a frown forming itself on her face as she waited for him to speak. "I was looking for you." He began, a small smile appearing on his face." Shinra said you went out with your friends, which got me wondering because I never thought you had any," This time she let out a heavy groan to which he stayed unfazed while continuing on with his rant. "But anyway. I went to your house and surprise, surprise you weren't there. I know shocker. I asked Shinra but he didn't know where you might me - what a useless cousin by the way, what if something happened!" At least one thing she could agree on. "So I tracked your phone-"

"You did what?!" She all but asked in disbelief, cutting him off with a huff. This boy was insane, absolutely and utterly insane.

"It's not nice to interrupt others when they're talking, Momo-chan" He scolded her, clicking his tongue in fake annoyance. But she knew better than that. The boy was more than just amused by her reaction. In fact, he was fuming with energy to the point where he felt the need to show her how entertaining she was being as he smirked down at her.

"Unbelievable" She mumbled to herself to which he only let out a small laugh, raising his hands in a mock gesture.

"You know Momo-chan, your face looks really funny when you're annoyed, maybe I should do it more often"

"You already do!" She pinned him with a glare that didn't seem to particularly bother him. She then pointed a slender finger to his chest. "You know what else's funny-?" She was quickly cut off as the door to the grocery store opened, revealing an irritated duo, each of them holding a can of soda in hand. At first, they didn't seem to notice the pair standing under the wall bus as soon as they did Kyohei's eyes widened for a moment. He eyed the raven-haired boy, towering over Momoko and he could not help but compare him to a predator towering over his prey.

"Ah, Dota-chin!" Izaya quickly turned around, now facing the two boys in front of him. "Long time no see!" Kadota cringed inwardly at the nickname. "Togusa" Izaya added after a while, nodding at the other boy.

"Orihara-san" Kadota finally said, eyeing him suspiciously as if expecting a strike from him at any given chance. "What are you doing here?" Izaya smiled back at him and if Kyohei didn't know any better, he would've believed in it's sincerity.

"Just looking for a lost pet" If Izaya was able to feel the glare Momoko was sending his way, he chose to ignore it.

"Well, did you find it?" This time, the boy glanced back, his smile haunting as he stared back at the girl, whose expression never ceased to amuse him.

"I think I did" And with that said, he took a step back, passing by the girl "Well, I gotta bounce. See ya later Momo-chan!" Were his last words as he walked down the street, leaving the three of them to their own thoughts. To say that Kyohei felt concerned about Izaya's words was a huge understatement. The look in the other boy's eyes and the meaning behind his words proved to be successful in managing to unsettle him furthermore as he watched his figure disappear in the distance.

Momoko stared after him for a while, suddenly feeling the unpleasant warmness in her mouth. She snapped out of her haze, touching her lip with her hand only to reveal it to be covered with a red liquid.

"Miyazawa, you're bleeding" Saburo's voice fell upon deaf ears. She was so occupied by her thoughts she hadn't realized she'd been biting her lip this whole time. The taste of blood in her mouth felt almost nostalgic.

"I gotta go home. See ya later, guys." She said after a moment, not looking at either of them as she too left them to wonder.

She turned and tossed for the hundredth time this night, unable to fall asleep. Her mind was clouded with Izaya and the look he gave her in front of the grocery store. The look that awoke something in her. A desire to prove him wrong. A twisted sense of curiosity that told her that the boy knew more than one would expect from a mere highschooler. But then again Orihara Izaya was anything but a mere highschooler. Quite on the contrary, he seemed like someone who could have been involved with Yakuza and all the shady stuff that you'd expect from someone who enjoyed playing mind games. There was also the fact that peremamently removing Inoue-sensei- one of the main teachers- from the school was so easy for him. The day on the rooftop made her see a glimpse of the real reason why he was considered one of the most dangerous people at Raijin. It suddenly dawned upon her that there was more to him than one might think. People described him as a troublemaker and a mishevious boy who wasn't afraid to anger the strongest man, so called beast of Ikebukuro. But it wasn't all that he was, wasn't it? He was involved in bigger schemes and held more power than she'd previously expected. The kind of power that could help her in finding her father.

There was also the fact that the boy seemed to be somehow interested in her. Of course, he offered an explanation for that, or should she say an excuse or even a lie to get close to her. It all started when she helped him out with Heiwajima, but there was more to it, wasn't there? For someone who has encountered a ton of people who somehow had gotten caught in the crossfire of their fights, he seemed to be awfully interested in what one would call a completely normal girl who wasn't particularly known at Raijin. She most certainly wasn't the first one to talk and try to stop Shizuo. So why was he so caught up on her. Unless he knew why she was in Ikebukuro in the first place.

It made her want to decipher and unravel the depths of his twisted brain that somehow seemed to be involved with her past. And there was so much more and yet so little to what she wanted to know. For she knew that a simple confirmation of her previous thoughts would have been more than enough. For all she knew he could be a blessing in disguise, although she doubted it. Yet she knew something for certain: Even if he didn't know ynthing about her family, he most certainly had enough information to lead her in the right direction. And so it made Momoko ponder over their inexistent relationship and what it made her feel. A mix between acquaintances and yet to become rivals, nothing more, nothing less. In the game that she was about to enter Izaya was by all means the more experienced player. She would even go as far as to call him the one who made the rules but was also smart and cunning enough to avoid and be above them like a god.

To describe what kind of opponent Orihara was proved yet again to be a difficult task and yet there she was, trying to pinpoint not only his status in the game, but also her own. Momoko wasn't afraid of him, nervous and excited about his involvement in her personal life, most certainly. Afraid? Never. He who marched into her life as a complete stranger and had somehow taken interest in her was something to be certainly nervous about.

She rubbed her eyes, before closing them once again. The peace didn't last long as her eyes snapped opened for the hundredth time, now looking in the direction of her buzzing phone. She groaned internally but still reached for it with visible curiosity written all over her face. She opened her phone and was immediately greeted with the bright screen. She narrowed her eyes, the blinding brightness of the screen making it impossible to read anything. After her eyes had adjusted to the light, her gaze traveled to the clock that read 3 A.M and two unread messages. One being an older one from Kyohei asking her if she was okay to which she typed a quick reply, assuring the older boy that she was fine. Her eyes then slid to the second message that appeared to arrive a minute ago. It was from an unknown number. Who would be texting her at three in the morning?! She thought to herself. Although it came from an unknown number, she didn't need a name to know who it was from.

One being an older one from Kyohei asking her if she was okay to which she typed a quick reply, assuring the older boy that she was fine. Her eyes then slid to the second message that appeared to arrive a minute ago. It was from an unknown number. Who would be texting her at three in the morning?! She thought to herself. Although it came from an unknown number, she didn't need a name to know who it was from.

She re-read the message for what had to be the tenth time, before finally replying and clicking the 'send' button. As she lied in her bed that night, unable to fall asleep, the only thing that echoed through her mind were three words.

Sleep well, Momo-chan :)

Izaya lied in his bed, looking at the message she had sent him. You shouldn't have fed the stray dog, Orihara-san. It will keep coming back and at some point, it'll bite your hand. For some reason, he found himself grinning at the screen, all this while getting more and more amused with every second. "But then again...you're more of a cat rather than a dog, now aren't you, Momo-chan?" He mused while laughing to himself in the darkness of his room.

(A/N): please tell me what you think! :)