Apologies for the delay! College work to be blamed. This is a continued flashback, and is a bit on the short side. Bear with me here, the next chapter will be longer, I promise. And updated faster :)

DISCLAIMER - I DO NOT OWN DURARARA

"Um, Good morning Shizuo! Thanks for inviting me over! I really appreciate it!"

Shizuo had woken up not less than ten minutes ago. He'd spent the last night worrying incessantly about Natasha coming over, and as result had slept late. His alarm clock had done its job, waking him up at eight, but he was really pissed off due to lack of sleep, and the clock had been smashed onto the wall. Therefore the late awakening.

It was Kasuka who had woken him up, holding a glass of cold milk, and reminding him of Natasha-san's arrival. Shizuo sprung up, ran to the living room, looked at the clock, and almost ripped it off the wall in despair. 9:50.

Natasha was going to come at ten. He rushed through his morning activities at lightning speed, just in time for the doorbell to ring. Kasuka was a bit apprehensive about his brother's harried mood, and wondered if he should Natasha-san and ask her to come some other day as Shizuo was not at his best temper that day.

But the moment the door opened, a lady stood her with her bright red hair plaited back neatly, in a knee length skirt and sleeveless black shirt. Her pale skin had a beautiful contrast against the black shirt, and Shizuo stood there for a while looking at her, wondering how and why in the world had such a pretty lady decided to talk to him.

Kasuka smiled. Looking at his brother's pink ears, there was no way she was just a friend. At least not in his brother's mind. Being the perceptive boy, he left the room.

Natasha was a bit surprised at not being let on instantly, and wondered if there as anything wrong. She greeted him enthusiastically.

Shizuo was shaken out of his reverie, and politely asked her to come inside, and Kasuka took that his cue to return, and introduced himself as her kanji advisor.

They sat down to study at the dining table without further incident.

"... Natasha-san, you're learning well. Let's stop here for today," said Kasuka in a monotone, that Natasha had learnt to understand in the last two hours as his characteristic way of speaking. She wondered about how someone like Shizuo, who was so reactive to his emotions, had a brother like Kasuka, who would conceal his thoughts and emotions in the deepest parts of himself.

She saw Kasuka leaning toward Shizuo, telling him something a low voice, and Shizuo looking worried at it, responding back just as quickly. She smiled a bit, thinking of it as playful sibling banter. She was an only child, and she felt a bit lonely sometimes, her mother would generally be out working and would return after she went to bed. On the rather days her mother was home, the men from Yagiri Pharmaceuticals would come to the house, asking to see her. She had already given them a demonstration of her telekinetic powers to them, but her mother had drawn the line on experimentation.

You can observe my daughter's abilities from a distance, she had said with a steely glance, but taking her into a laboratory and experimenting on her is absolutely not possible. I will never allow it.

Natasha scowled involuntarily. Shizuo and Kasuka had meanwhile finished their conversation , looking curiously at her, wondering if they'd offended her or something.

She smiled at them, and waved it off as nothing. "It's all right, I just remembered something unpleasant. I shouldn't have. Kasuka, thank you so much for today. I'd better be going." She really didn't want to go back to an empty house, but she couldn't impose on Shizuo's family, even if he was the only friend she'd ever had since coming here. Kadota was helpful, sure, but he was doing it out of courtesy more than anything. And there were a lot of people depending on him, she couldn't possibly take his time from that.

"Um, Natasha wait," said Shizuo sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, looking at Kasuka, as if waiting for confirmation. Kasuka gave a slight nod.

"Do you want to go out somewhere?"

"Brother, there's nothing more for me to teach today."

"Yeah?"

Kasuka resisted the urge to sigh. His brother could be so dense sometimes. For the first time in his life, he brings a girl home, whom he's clearly smitten by, and he has no idea how to act. He hadn't expected Shizuo to act like the perfect guy to his girl, but by the looks of it, Kasuka would have to interfere a bit more than he'd anticipated.

"Are you just going to let her go home for the day? You should ask her for a movie or something. She's your friend, right?"

"Ask her out?" said Shizuo worriedly. He'd never gone on a date ever in his life, true, but he was never the type to observe things such as crushes and dates. He was too invested in property damage and beating people up for pissing him off to pay attention to such things.

And then there was his famous temper. He was afraid of it. He hated violence, but other than his former senpai in middle school, Tom-san, nobody had ever believed him for it. They all thought he was a monster.

But then he looked at Natasha, scowling at the table, and realised that maybe, just maybe, she had something ugly behind her abilities which she could not tell people either. He found it a bit difficult to believe, but wanted to give her the benefit of doubt.

It was the first time he found someone like himself. He allowed himself to be selfish this one time and decided to spend some more time with her. Besides, if worst came to worst, she had already displayed that she was more than capable of throwing off projectiles if they ever hit her. Not that he ever would, he shuddered at the thought. But the thought did give him some relief.

Natasha had probably realised that she'd been scowling, and said, "It's all right, I just remembered something unpleasant. I shouldn't have. Kasuka, thank you so much for today. I'd better be going."

Shizuo decided to take the leap of faith.

"Um, Natasha wait," said Shizuo sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, looking at Kasuka, as if waiting for confirmation. Kasuka gave a slight nod.

"Do you want to go out somewhere?"