Anri cleaned the apple off on the front of her shirt as she watched the two boys she was proud to call her best friends fight over the last rice ball. She smiled softly. She bit into the red delicious apple. It had been a relatively peaceful day. There had been no flying vending machines. Anri knew it wouldn't last because she could see Izaya Orihara walking toward them now. He was walking casually with his hands shoved into the pockets of his parka. He walked as though he didn't have a care in the world. Nothing could touch him. Anri took another bite of her apple and looked away from him.

"Mind if I join you?" Izaya Orihara asked. For Anri, it was apparent that the question was rhetorical; Mikado remained silent in an attempt at politeness; Kida glared at him. Izaya plopped down beside Anri. He crossed his long legs and plucked the apple out of her hand. Anri raised her eyebrows as he bit right over the place she had. She glanced toward Kida to see his eyebrow twitching violently; Mikado's mouth had fallen open in surprise.

"There is another apple in the basket, Izaya-san," Anri forced out. Each time she glanced over at the man, the image from earlier that morning would come back to her.

"Hmm?" He sounded through his chews. He swallowed the bite. To emphasize her point, Anri reached into the basket and pulled the other apple out. She held it up to him with an expression that clearly said "see?" Izaya smirked and leaned close to her. She suppressed the urge to lean back away from him. It was the one thing Saika agreed with her on. It always amused her how Saika wanted to "love" every other man, but Izaya. Izaya's voice tore her from her thoughts.

"I like this apple better though," Anri could feel the cold peeling of the apple against her chin as he raised it up to his lips. "It's much sweeter." He took another bite out of it. His brown eyes danced with mischief. The young woman simply blinked in return to his suggestive comment, but her body still betrayed her. A small blush worked its way onto her cheeks. One that only Izaya could see because of his closeness. He smirked and one eyebrow rose. Anri knew that he was just trying to rile them up. She turned her eyes away from him just as the man backed up slightly to see the reaction of the others. Kida's eyes were darkened with rage. Mikado, who didn't understand the undercurrent of Izaya's statement as well as the other two, tilted his head. Her friends had done exactly what Izaya had hoped they would: reacted to the meaningless flirtation. Mikado's blue eyes fell on the apple in Anri's hand. It was grasped tightly in her hand now.

"But…it's the same kind…" Mikado stated in confusion. Anri's lips twitched as she tried to suppress her laughter. Izaya did no such thing. He threw his head back and laughed with abandon. Anri's eyebrows rose as she turned her head to him. The laughter he now gave was not manic, but real. Anri reluctantly admitted to herself that it made him all the more attractive. Izaya placed an index finger on his lips as he attempted to calm himself down. His shoulders still shook.

Anri raised her eyebrows as the tall informant walked away from them. Confidence radiated in every single step. Anri rolled her eyes at the girl's lovesick sigh.

"He's so amazing. Gorgeous too…"

"Sure, he's gorgeous…until he opens his mouth," Anri had told her. Disbelief was evident in her tone. A small scoff sounded beside her.

"You're so mean, Anri-chan!" The girl had retorted with a shake of her head. Anri rolled her eyes. There would be no getting through to her. She was in too deep with the man. Anri looked over at her. Her dark brown eyes stared in the direction Izaya had taken off. She shook her head and sighed. Still, she was going to try. Not for the first time, she cursed Mika's wide honey brown eyes.

"Do this for me. She's my cousin and I hate to see her being pulled into his fucked up game!"

"Is there a reason you're here?" Kida asked. The rage in his tone pulled her from her thoughts. Izaya looked toward the blonde boy then threw the apple into the air. Anri caught it in her open hands. The other apple fell in her lap easily. A small sigh escaped her lips as she looked down at the apple in her hands. There was barely anything left. She put the apple on one of the paper towels she had spread out for food and picked up the apple in her lap. She returned it to the basket then she tuned into the sound of Izaya's voice:

"I am searching for information on a new informant," Izaya said casually. Anri fought off a small smirk as she noticed the tension in his shoulders. He wouldn't find anything. She had tied up all of her loose ends.

"Oh?" Kida's surprise was obvious on his face. He couldn't stop the next sentence that passed his lips, "someone is challenging you?" Izaya smirked. The mischief had long since left his eyes; it had been replaced by well-restrained rage. Anri couldn't help but love it.

"It would appear so," Izaya sighed.

"We haven't heard anything," Kida said. The hidden ending of his sentence was easily figured out by the tension in his body: now leave. Izaya looked at him and smiled. He opened his mouth to say something, but a loud familiar shout of anger interrupted him.

"IZAYA!" Izaya sighed in exasperation and looked to the teenagers he sat with.

"Ta…" he drawled as he moved away from them. Kida blinked as the rage filled blonde darted past them. He turned to them.

"Ever think Shizuo is stalking him?" He asked, pointing toward the man. Anri could see his point. Shizuo showed up every time Izaya was around, but she also knew that Izaya kept a close eye on his "pawns."

"Or Izaya just shows up where Shizuo is just to get a reaction," Anri returned quietly.

Izaya cursed quietly at his luck. He had been searching Ikebukuro all day and had yet to find anyone that knew anything about this informant. Izaya entered his apartment and cursed aloud. Namie jumped at his sudden appearance, but he paid her no mind. Eric hadn't talked no matter what he had threatened him with. The pervert was ready to lose his job and face jail time just to keep this informant in the dark! He had asked Celty-no luck; he had asked Simon-again inconclusive; he had asked just about everyone he ran into and there had been no results! Namie screamed as Izaya snapped. His fist slammed into the wall nearest to him. He withdrew his fist roughly. Bits of debris rained down from the sizable hole he had made.

"Call someone to fix that…" He demanded of Namie. She only nodded even though he paid no attention to her. As she reached for the phone, she didn't know whether to applaud the person that had affected Izaya this much or curse them. After all, she had to stay with him.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow!" Kida exclaimed as he threw his arms around Anri and Mikado. Mikado laughed awkwardly.

"You'll see us tomorrow, Kida-kun…" Anri mumbled.

Shinra sat in his office chair. He folded his arm up on the table and balanced his head on his hand. Celty sat across from him, typing away on her computer. She was no doubt on the Dollars chat site. Suddenly, her PDA appeared in front of his face.

{Why are you staring at me?} She demanded. He smiled. She was embarrassed. It was cute.

"Because you are just so lovely," he returned without missing a beat. While the statement was true, it wasn't the real reason. Anri's request had puzzled him. The teen had never wanted to see him before. Each time she showed up at their apartment, it was always Celty she was looking for. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Say…Celty…did something happen between you and Anri-chan?" He cursed the moment those words escaped his lips. He had shocked her.

{No. Why?} Her shock was slowly melting into worry.

"Oh! No reason! No reason! She just text me this morning, but I think she meant for it to go to you!" Filthy liar. Celty's worry changed to disbelief.

{Really? And what did this message say?} A loud "bing" saved him from having to answer. Both Dullahan and human looked toward the screen. A message from Kanra stared back at them.

[I have a job for you.] Shinra stopped himself from sighing in relief. Celty, however, was irritated.

{We'll talk about this later.} She shoved toward him as she stood up. Shinra nodded. He knew that they would though he had no idea what to tell her. He walked her to the door.

"Be careful," Shinra wished as Celty put on her helmet. She nodded as she steered the bike toward the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, Shinra sighed and walked back inside his apartment. Slowly, he sat down on one of the kitchen chairs.

Anri slipped into the shadows of the apartment building when she saw Celty coming toward the door. Slowly, she moved toward the elevators. Like the night she sunk into Eric's home, her steps were silent.

Shinra jumped as a knock shattered the silence of the apartment. He stood quickly and opened the door. Anri blinked at the speed. She then flushed at the way his eyes surveyed her for injuries. She raised her eyebrows.

"I told you I was fine, Shinra-san," Anri reminded the doctor. He rewarded her with a smile as he stepped aside to let her in.

"I had to be certain," Shinra retorted as she entered his apartment. "Now, what is this pressing matter that you saw fit to exclude Celty from?" Anri looked away from him.

"We may need to sit down," Anri said. He obliged her request. She looked at the table top for a moment before drawing a deep breath. She looked up at him. "I asked for you alone because my questions are about Celty. Seeing that the subject matter is very touchy, I thought it best to confront you first." Shinra blinked. "So, I'm going to be blunt. What does Celty's head look like?"

Silence fell over the apartment while dread filled Shinra. He swallowed back his dread and asked his own question instead: "Why do you want to know?"

"I think I have found it, but I am still unsure."

"Why come to me?" Shinra asked. Anri tilted her head. While he had been asking these questions, his voice had become softer and softer.

"Because if I am wrong Celty will be devastated and I don't want that," Anri returned. She watched the underground doctor closely. His head stayed bent. His bangs were covering his eyes in an almost threatening manner, but she could see the despair and panic there. "You think she will leave you if she gets her head back, don't you?" Anri whispered. Her once hard, casual tone became soft. Shinra still didn't look at her. She reached out and placed her hand over his. "Shinra, Celty was not bound to stay with you when she first came here, but she still did. Out of all the people in the world she could be with, she chose you. Besides, she cares about you. Why would her having her head change that?"

Shinra swallowed as he took in the young teenager's words. He knew that she was right, but his insecurities couldn't help but rare their ugly head. He sighed.

"Red-brown hair…" Shinra whispered. He closed his eyes and pulled from memory the description Celty had given of her head all those years ago. "A heart shaped face and a small nose. The bottom lip is fuller than the top…" The hand over his tightened; Shinra flinched slightly in pain. He looked up and saw the horror that had washed over Anri's face. Concern instantly flooded him, but it was dampened by the curiosity and fear of what that look could mean. She jerked her hand out from atop his and fumbled with her skirt pocket. She pulled out her phone and flipped through the picture. She swallowed and slid the phone across the desk to him. His breath froze in his lungs. The only sound in the apartment was that of their breathing and the ticking of the clock. It stayed this way for about an hour before the shock finally left Shinra. "How did you get this?" He asked finally. Anri sighed. Shinra looked up at her. The plastic of her phone cut painfully into his hand. Anri reached forward then and slowly uncurled his fingers from her phone. She tucked it in her pocket and looked back to him.

"I put a virus in a man's computer," she was uncertain why she didn't tell him that it was Izaya, "that allowed me access to his webcam. The virus is undetectable. When the webcam is hacked into, the light doesn't cut on like with others. It also captures pictures of every moment that I am hacked into him. When I shut my computer, the connection was broken therefore ending the sessions." Shinra fought back his fascination. "Anyway," Anri said with a sigh, "when I looked…I saw this." She waved her cell phone for a moment to indicate the picture. Silence fell between them again.

"What are you going to do now?" He asked. Anri turned her eyes to him.

"I don't know. My conscience demands that Celty know. It is, after all, her head…" Anri sighed. "So, I suppose I could tell her…but is she-are you, for that matter-ready for something like that?" Shinra realized that she was thinking aloud right now.

"Anri-chan…if you don't mind me asking…just whose computer did you infect?"