His arms around her and his voice triggered something within her. She couldn't explain the feeling that exploded inside of her chest once she felt those long, lean arms hug her and heard the tone he used to call out her name. One minute she remained motionless and stunned, the next she felt immense strength swell up inside of her which made her turn around harshly, albeit her almost bare form and, much to her and assailant's surprise, flip him over, in a not so gentle manner, like a professional martial artist resulting to a rather loud thud.

Usually she'd apologize, but like before, her body and mind weren't cooperating with her. Instead of the apology she planned to voice out, an insult and angry remark resounded around them. "God damn it, don't fucking touch me you flea!"

Both her and the latter's eyes grew wide at her reaction.

Where the hell did that come from? When did she learn judo? When did she learn to swear like that? How come her body wasn't cooperating with her? How come it can speak and act on its own on just pure impulse? Her mind was spinning again. She had no idea what was going on anymore. A fit of amused chuckles cum uncontrollable laughter snapped her out of her confusion.

With indignant eyes, she stared at the source of the twisted laughter. Her face was flushed; she covered her body with the costume still in her hands. Shizuru remained silent and let the man laugh his heart out. The reason for such an outburst, she could not comprehend. Why wasn't he mad at her? She threw him and swore at him. Why was he laughing at her?

Was there something on her face? Did he find her body revolting? Wha – BLOODY HELL THAT WAS NOT THE POINT RIGHT NOW! Why was he even here? How did he even get in the van? She was pretty sure she locked the vehicle after she got inside. The already confused actress chose to stop her train of thoughts. It wouldn't help her current situation if she continued to debate with herself. First things first – she has to get things straight with this man. What other way did she have other than to ask him head on what the deal was?

"W-Why –H-how – You… here…" Wrong decision it seemed. Her embarrassment and confusion took away her ability to properly construct comprehendible sentences and questions. Her eyes never left the man, though they changed focus somewhere along the way. From just blankly gazing upon the peculiar male, her distracted honey-dyed eyes locked with burning close to red irises whose owner stopped his fit without her noticing.

One moment he was splayed on the floor, the next he was up on his feet and already only centimeters away from her. To say she was once again stunned by the intruder would be an understatement. Too shocked was she to retaliate when both of the male's hands grabbed her bony wrists and proceeded to slam her forcibly towards the wall, their eyes never left each other.

What made matters worse was she couldn't look away from his eyes no matter how she tried. She couldn't find the strength she displayed earlier. She was close to bare and she felt exposed – she felt completely naked under those eyes that appeared as if they could see through everything. Her breath hitched, much to her disdain at how powerless she felt under the man's ministrations. The latter obviously noticed her fear but chose to take it as fuel to his interest.

His voice made her knees tremble and her eyes close involuntarily.

"Shizu-chan…"

It would seem as if his mind abandoned him the moment he saw her. It's as if all the feelings he had bottled up spilled and caused him to act as he did. He came home from Ikebukuro expecting a day's rest from everything he's been through. After he, Shinra and Celty watched Shizuru and Yuuhei's debut movie, all strength and coherency in him dissipated into thin air. In his defense, he blamed it all on the way Shizu-chan looked so breath-taking on screen. He hated it.

He despised the fact that expressions that took him a couple of years to see were just displayed on screen for everyone to enjoy. Deep down, he felt insatiable antagonism. For whom or what, he did not know. He was so annoyed to the point he wanted to stop watching the movie, but being Izaya, from years of practice, he had great self-control. And also, as he watched the movie, a great number of the questions and mysteries in his mind were solved.

First and foremost, six years ago, not only his Shizu-chan disappeared, but also her brother, Heiwajima Kasuka. Sure he still had a few projects now and then, but he never starred in Japanese movies anymore. He never hosted shows or even appeared on them. It was as if he left Japan. It would seem that he had truly gone abroad with Shizuka and that he started to act in the States and other countries. He clearly had something against his home country as proven by his vehement rejection of his movies being sold in said country – also his disagreement with having Shizuka's movies sold in Japan.

Izaya could formulate one hypothesis from that clue. Kasuka was running away from something – and he was hiding his sister from someone. He snickered at that. He knew it was him who Kasuka didn't want his sister to meet. That would mean that Shizuka, after her heart break, went with Kasuka to the States, lived there for six year and became a famous actress alongside his brother. It made sense. The pieces fit perfectly. If not for Celty's earlier statement that the Hanejima siblings were adopted by a business tycoon and had lived in the States at a very young age, though he didn't trust the validity of Celty's information.

It had long lost its credibility when Izaya saw the two siblings act on screen. Hanejima Yuuhei was definitely Heiwajima Kasuka, that fact led to only one reasonable conclusion, Hanejima Shizuru was Heiwajima Shizuka. How the Dullahan failed to notice such a blatant fact, he had no idea.

The underground doctor sent him probing looks. It would seem as Shinra noticed it too, but as to not make Celty feel bad, he kept his mouth shut.

The information broker merely nodded his head at his friend and transferred his attention towards the formulation of his hypothesis. He had trust in his deduction skills, and now that he had the reassurance of Shinra's interest; all he needed now were proof and explanations. His Shizu-chan's disappearance was indeed laced with mystery and it challenged him to investigate deeper into the matter before he officially destroyed his favorite toy. After all, she was far too interesting to crush without playing along with her little game.

Also, she wasn't too shabby looking. Scratch that, she was beautiful – probably one of the most beautiful females he's ever encountered. Despite being always angry and glaring, her beauty could not be rivaled. Now, on screen, her face showed such vulnerable emotions - turned her into a goddess. Heiwajima Shizuka was indeed very beautiful. At that realization and reluctant admission of admiration he had for the girl, Izaya's heart beat a tad bit faster than usual.

Of course it was only because she wasn't used on seeing her express herself like that. There was no way he liked her the way everyone believed he did, right?

Hence the reason he followed her almost immediately when he saw her in Shinjuku, more unambiguously, in Nishi-Shinjuku, the location of his apartment.

He did not expect to see her close to naked. He did not expect his body to act on its own and hug her like that. Over all those unexpected situations, the way she reacted to his call and touch shocked him. The way she shattered his expectations exhilarated his blood and his excitement which had lain dormant for the past six years of her absence.

She was the only one who could make his adrenaline rush like this - the only one who could provide him so much entertainment. It made him laugh. It was all too funny and interesting. His Shizu-chan was really the best. He would forever engrave it in his memory. The way his Shizu-chan's monstrous strength managed to throw him off guard, the way anger flashed inside those now perplexed orbs. The rush was too much for him to control. Especially when he saw her shyness and confusion blend into one, they disabled her from reacting properly. Let's not forget that he was closing to seeing her entire body, and just like her face, her body was dusted with a subtle shade of pink from humiliation. The way she stuttered…

How cute.

Before he knew it, he was on his feet and had successfully managed to pin the distressed woman to the wall of the van.

"Shizu-chan…" he called out once more. Truth be told, he wanted to call out her name over and over and over again just to make sure she was really in front of him. He wanted to call her name so she'll be bound to him forever. His mind long lost its proper reason the moment he laid eyes on her. It was annoying she could send him towards insanity, but never does he need to mind that. She was, after all, beneath him, scared and confused – just the way he always wanted her to be. He wanted to see more emotion on her face. And the thought of seeing more expressions on her lovely face resulted to him grinning from ear to ear.

Meanwhile, Shizuru was trembling. Her knees failed to support her. She had to rely on the male's strong grip on her wrists so she could remain standing up.

All she could really do was to stare into his eyes. "W-Who are you?" She knew it was a lame question at a time like this, and she remembered asking the same question before, but no answer came from the man last time. She was sure she'd be brushed off once more – to her utter shock, the male rested his head on her shoulder, his lips dangerously ghosted near her neck.

His cold breaths on her skin made her trembling stronger. She couldn't think properly as the stranger continued to remain silent.

Everything turned into a twisted sort of calm which was shattered when the male made a violent movement – he quickly put her hands in one of his hands and pinned them above her head and raised her chin so she could lock eyes with him with his free hand. She would have screamed. Really, she would have, if not for the sudden lips claiming her own. Her eyes widened even more, if that was humanely possible. She was fully aware of how she looked like now.

Pathetic.

However, she couldn't bring herself to care when she felt like she was being burned by the flames inside red orbs that refused to break their gaze with her own discerned, honey-colored ones. At that moment, she forgot to breath, not like she could, seeing as the male had absolutely zero intention of breaking the searing kiss.

Who knew a kiss could leave you breathless despite not having to involve their tongues?

For what seemed like an eternity, the male finally withdrew himself. A smirk was on his face. His features held such unreadable emotions, it scared Shizuru. It was the first time in her life she's encountered someone as mentally deranged as this man. The look he gave her supported her theory that whoever this was – was completely mental.

"Orihara Izaya. My name is Orihara Izaya. Remember the name, Shizu-chan."

Finally.

She finally knew his name. Izaya. If you asked her, it's weird you'd actually care to know the name of someone who has you pinned to a wall while you're close to naked and forcibly kissed you, nonetheless, she could not bring herself to harbor hate for this Izaya person. Quite the contrary, she felt something inside of her heart flutter. The moment she heard his name come out from his mouth with that damned voice of his.

You could say she was enthralled, which she had said before, was strange in a situation such as this.

They remained like that for a good few minutes. She looked into his eyes and he looked right through her very soul. His presence intimidated her, but unlike her earlier helplessness, once again, she could feel something spark inside of her once her brain had completely registered her situation and the name the male gave her.

Everything just clicked, and then she surprised the both of them by her reaction. "Perverted flea, you better keep your hands to yourself." That being said, her monstrous strength surfaced again. She broke away from Izaya's vice grip by delivering a strong kick to his stomach which sent the latter flying to the other side of the van.

Despite the pain on the lower part of his body, he still could not get rid of the feeling of amusement he got from the girl. He could tell she was struggling and was confused. Her memories, and strength were surfacing. What interested him wasn't the vulnerability she showed him, but the sparks of anger and hatred the usual Shizu-chan carried within her. It was the destructive power and the impulsiveness that interested him to no end.

You could say he somehow missed it. No… not somehow, he really did miss it.

"Get out." Beautiful, her angry voice – it was music to his ears. Yet, her face contradicted her tone. Her face was contorted into misperception, it's as if she didn't know what she was doing or how she could have accomplished such a feat – which was total bullocks since she had always done indescribable things before, her voice, on the other hand, held hate, the intimate hate Shizuka Heiwajima, the strongest woman of Ikebukuro, harbored only for him.

Ironic, if you asked him. She loved him and hated him at the same time.

"Nee, Shizu-chan, do you love me?" he asked the woman who was focused on eating her lunch. His inquiry clearly shocked her seeing as how she choked on her food. "W-What the hell are you babbling about, flea?" came her rejoinder, accompanied by a heavy red color that invaded her face.

She could be cute sometimes. Especially when there was only the two of them. Contrary to common belief that they fought every time they saw and that they can't stand each other's presences, things were calm between them as long as Shinra or Dota-chin was there. Or when he wasn't smirking, or trolling other people. Now, it was a combination of reason one and two.

The four of them went up to the school's roof top not long ago for lunch, but Shinra and Dota-chin didn't bring food with them so they left to buy something at the canteen, while Shizuka stayed behind because she always brought her own lunch and Izaya because he wasn't hungry and found no need to stand up from where he sat – diagonally across the now stuttering female. It was fun to watch her struggle like that.

He snickered at that. Maybe that's why she disliked him instinctively. With that animal-like instinct of hers, she felt that he lived to annoy her.

"W-What the hell, louse? T-There's no way I'd l-l-l-l-love you!"

Her face was as red as can be, it kind of made Izaya a bit guilty of embarrassing her, he just couldn't find it in himself to be that kind, he was Orihara Izaya. He feigned an overdramatically hurt expression and started to act out sadness over her rejection. "Ah! Shizu-chan! You do not know how much you pain me with your blatant rejection!" he put a hand over his chest just to make his act a bit more believable.

She huffed a bit, red tint of a blush still on her face, but the pride that the young informant so wanted to crush was now present on her face. "Shut it, flea."

"Bet you can't say one sentence to me without the addition of your usual insults of me being a flea or a louse."

"Lousy scum."

"Still, my dear, 'louse' is present for it is the root word of 'lousy'."

Truth be told, he was surprised the latter hadn't started to screeching his name and coming at him with whatever weapon she can pick up. He was quite a bit amazed when all she did was pop in an egg roll in her mouth and chewed angrily. After a few moments of silence, she answered him, seemingly having calmed down.

"Love is a weak link. Those bound by love are susceptible to all kinds of unwanted mishaps just because they feel so strongly for their partner. Love makes you feeble and takes away your ability to think sensibly. That's why..." she paused, closing her bento and putting them away in her bag. "Hate is stronger than love, because it is a negative emotion, unwanted mishaps strengthen it, it makes you sturdier, and even though it makes you think unreasonably, it does not mislead you from your goal of hating the person. Eventually, when you've reached the peak of your hate, you won't be able to look away from the other, and thus forges a much stronger bond than love."

Well that dumbfounded him; to say he was surprised would be an understatement. He just stared at her walk away from him; bag slouched over her shoulder, a defiant look on her face and a proud smirk for outsmarting him on her face. Before she exited the door, she faced him, a small blush on her face and spoke out words that sent his mind to the gutters.

"I hate you, Orihara Izaya." Was all she said before living him wide-eyed and unable to move.

He remained like a shocked little goose caught by headlights until Kadota and Shinra snapped him out of his dazed state, bombarding him with questions like "What did you do this time?" or "What happened? Ah, never mind. 100% it must have been your fault for pissing Shizuka off."

He just laughed at them and shook his head before snatching Kadota's yakisoba bread and running after his Shizu-chan. "Thanks Dota-chin! And I didn't do anything! I was just shocked. Shizu-chan said she loved me."

That left the other two in the state he was in before they entered, but Izaya didn't care, he just ran after the girl who shook up his world.

It was then he seriously considered her of being an alien from outer space – because no human can catch him off guard like she can.

"Nee… Shizu-chan… Do you really… not remember me?" he asked tentatively once he felt the pain of being thrown harshly and colliding with metal. His mind calmed down a bit from its 'Shizu-rush' as what he decided to call the phenomena in where he can't get enough of Shizu-chan.

There was no response; only breathing and the sound of heart beats were heard.

She didn't know how to reply to his question. Yes, she remembered him from last night, this was their second meeting. She remembered clearly. She bit back that retort because she felt as if his question was deeper than what it seemed to be. There was something with the way he asked her, and the way he looked at her that told her it wasn't as shallow as what she initially thought of it.

If you take the past occurrences and present situations into consideration, then undoubtedly, the question had a much deeper root.

However, she couldn't think of a proper answer for his inquiry since the worried voices of her manager and brother were shouting from outside the van.

The loud crash they heard from Shizuru's location startled both Chikage and Kasuka, the actor dropped his script and ran towards to where his sister was, Chikage right behind him. Kasuka felt a gripping unease down the pit of his very soul. Why was he having such an ominous feeling? He was worried about his sister. Sure he always worried for her, ever since they were children, but the worry and unease he felt now wasn't normal. It was far much more intense than what he's ever felt before – heck, it was worse than the anxiety he felt when she disappeared last night.

Somehow, though, they felt oddly similar, only this time, it was stronger.

He started to bang his hand on the door madly, his indifference disappeared as his heart raced, the worry of his sibling getting the better of him.

"Nee-san!"

"Shizuru!"

He and their manager yelled at the same time, obviously they both had a feeling of mutual apprehension towards the ghastly sound that came from the changing van.

Kasuka seriously considered breaking down the door to get to his sister, but was brought back to rationality when the door opened suddenly, and a dark silhouette immediately jumped out of the van and disappeared into the buildings of Shinjuku. Not that he could find himself to bring more attention towards the mysterious figure. Chikage looked at him, his eyes told the actor to go ahead of him and check on Shizuka. This reassured the younger Heiwajima to leave the case of the identity of the dark figure to their manager. With that, their manager ran after whoever the intruder was. He nodded curtly before he ran to where his dumbfounded sister who was poorly covered by the clothes she wore earlier sat lifelessly, save the tremors of her body.

"Nee-san?"

No reply…

"Nee-san?"

Still no reply…

He slowly approached her when he came near as to not frighten her more. Once he reached her, he wrapped his arms protectively around his sibling. He felt her shake inside his embrace which only served him to worry more and hug her tighter. "Nee-san? What happened?"

"Yuuhei…" she called out in a frightened voice. It made Kasuka's heart tremble. The fear and anxiety in her voice – emotions so unbefitting for her beautiful face made him want to cry. Yet, he did not speak, he let his distraught sister continue what she was about to say.

"Who is Orihara Izaya?"

Amidst all the chaos that ensued, not even Orihara Izaya noticed the pair of eyes focused solely on him, a smile formed on the face of the owner of the irises.

"I found him."

A/N:

ASDFGHJKL! I haven't updated in such a long time, I feel very guilty. Wa. It's because of one thing: I got addicted to chatting. Pathetic excuse, but that's the case. I'm going to focus on writing for now. I really want to finish this before school starts, mostly because I won't be able to write much because of my work load, so this is the fifth chapter. Wala~ I hope you guys liked it; I'm seriously having a writer's block.

About Shizuru's two outbursts of strength, it seems our ex-bartender is finally surfacing under the calm and cute actress, huh. And the creeper in the end, read on to find out who he is.

As usual, I would like to thank my reviewers and subs.

So this chapter is dedicated to the subs and the reviewers namely:

nellababy18

Mika . siam . 71192

Michikochan808 (Bakyura)

The Midnight Warrior

Sabathiel

InsomniaticFrenchToast

That-Crazy-Redhead-Chick

I'll try my best to tell myself to finish this.