Izaya leaped out of the path that the vending machine at the last second. Damn, well, at least this means the police probably won't get called in, unless Mr. Holier Than Thou decides to press charges. But Atsuko couldn't help but feel that she knew that voice from somewhere… Oh, no.

"Well, I think that's my cue to leave, if you would tell your boss that I expect to talk to him on the next business day, regardless of his client at the time," and with that, Izaya hopped out the window and down the street, doing some admittedly impressive moves along the way.

"Shizuo, now what if the guy doesn't pay up because you destroyed half his office?" said an exasperated voice from the doorway.

"Sorry," said the tall blond man next to him, shoving his hands into his pockets to pull out a pack of cigarettes.

"Um, hey, Shizuo, long time no see," Atsuko said, stepping out from behind her desk, walking around a broken piece of doorframe.

"Oh, Atsuko, you work for this bum?" Shizuo said, gesturing to the office around him, then stopping to light the cigarette placed in his mouth.

Just then, Masanori Taniguchi and the flavor of the day burst out of his office, his shirt only partially tucked in, and her shirt was even more revealing the when she walked into the office two hours ago. Both were wide eyed, as though he expected to see his wife going she-Hulk on his lobby. But when he saw Shizuo and his friend, his eyes got even wider, a vein popping in his forehead, his face turning a dark puce color. It was funny, but Atsuko suddenly feared for Shizuo's job.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING TO MY OFFICE?"

"Mr. Taniguchi, an Izaya Orihara came by asking for you, and he appeared to have no appointment, however, these two gentlemen do, according to the alarm you put on my computer for, and a side note on that alarm made it sound as though this was a very important meeting," Atsuko said, going behind her desk, pulling up the note he had made for her and himself, and glanced at the clock. 4:50, only ten minutes until closing time. She didn't want to have to stay any extra time in that man's office, unless she was getting paid more, that is. But telling the truth seemed to be her best course of action, even with getting her "knight" out of trouble.

"Oh, uh," Taniguchi said, as sweat began to form at his temple, "Well, Mr. Tanaka, Mr. Heiwajima, please, come on in, don't wprry about the damage, nothing we can't take care of, Ms. Ogawa?" That was her boss' way of saying You're not going anywhere yet.

Atsuko, heaving a sigh, said, "Please follow me into the next room, sirs, I believe Mr. Taniguchi has some business to attend to for a moment out here."

So Atsuko did her good little secretary bit, her head inkling towards the ground all because her boss couldn't just keep it in his pants until after he was done with work. She wished that she could kick him straight in the baby makers so that he wouldn't have anything to keep in his pants, but she really needed this job, even though the pay was crap and the work was crappier. If it were up to her, like if she didn't need to eat or have a roof over her head, she would have spit Taniguchi in the face and quit a long time ago. But then, Atsuko always assumed, most people thought that way about their bosses, maybe even Shizuo. Wait, no, his boss was an old friend, and he got to let out his anger on men like Taniguchi on a daily basis.

"So, you work for Taniguchi?" Shizuo asked once they were in the office, his cigarette never leaving his mouth, leaning against the wall behind him, hands deep in his pocket.

"Unfortunately, yes. But, for the most part, it's honest work. That is, until he asks me to call up his wife and lie to her about her husband's whereabouts," Atsuko said, sitting in what she considered "the secretary's chair". It was in the corner behind his desk and was usually where she wrote out what to write in letters and bills to clients.

"You two know each other?" the other bespectacled man asked, looking between the two.

"Shizuo saved me a few days ago from the yellow scarves. I told him I work for an asshole, and I guess I work for an asshole with financial troubles, but I guess we all are," Atsuko said, smiling briefly at the blond man who turned his head and readjusted his glasses.

"Well, sorry about your boss. I don't think that this will work out for you tonight, though, this guy doesn't seem to have our money, and no money usually means Shizuo has to deal with him," Tanaka said.

"Well, I guess I'll have to put in for overtime at my other job until I find another long time employer. Hopefully, the next boss won't be like the current boss," Atsuko said cheerfully, without a care in the world, but on the inside she was jumping up and down in both anger and happiness due to the fact that she might to have to work for Masanori Taniguchi anymore, but she will also be largely unemployed…again.

"Sorry," was all that Shizuo said, his head still turned to the side, ash falling from his now-dying cigarette. This made Tanaka take a better look at his friend, and if he didn't know better, he would say that the strongest man in Ikebukuro was blushing.

Atsuko saw Tanaka begin to smile after glancing between her and Shizuo, but before she could ask if he was alright, her boss came in, his face pale but sweating profusely.

"Atsuko, would you wait outside until I call you back in. These gentlemen and I have some business to discuss." AS she left, Atsuko caught Shizuo's eye and rolled her own at him.

An hour passed before any sort of action came from the her boss' office, and it was her boss being thrown through the door. Curious, Atsuko peeked from her desk to find Shizuo on the other end, hunched over, breathing heavily. Just like he had when he saved me.

It took him a moment to notice her, and when he did, he walked through the hole in the door and stopped a ways away from her, not saying anything.

"So, I guess I have to go job hunting tomorrow? Heh heh heh, Atsuko laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. When no one said anything she tried again, "Well, at least he had it coming to him."

"What do you mean, I don't think that anything can justify being thrown through a fucking door," Shizuo said bitterly, to which Atsuko laughed for real.

"I don't know, the guy cheated on his wife of twenty-five years, who had had his kids and another on the way, so I think that if there ever was a guy to be thrown through a door, it was him," Atsuko smiled as she said this, crossing over to her knight and putting a hand on his shoulder, and when she did, he flinched, something that didn't go unnoticed by the girl who was half his size.

"Ahem, so Ms. Ogawa, was it? Would you like for us to walk you home, the Yellow Scarves and the Blue Squares have been even worse than usual. I'm sure that Shizuo wouldn't mind walking you, either," Tanaka said, and judging by the gleam in his eyes, he was up to something. Shizuo noticed this to, and just as he was about to say something, Tanaka continued, "Besides, even if those guys weren't around, there's still the random mugging that happens around here, right Shizuo?"

Shizuo nodded, his eyes glowering at his "friend". "C'mon," he said, turning towards the door. Atsuko nodded, grabbing her bag, nodding at Tom Tanaka, and sprinted off towards Shizuo.

After catching up with his long strides, she smiled up at him and said, "And here I thought I'd never get to thank you properly for helping me out. And now you gave me the help to escape that hellhole."

No answer, not even a grunt.

"Anyway, as a thank you, how about you have dinner with my younger brother, Hideaki, and me? It'll just have to be some stir fry, but you look like you could use a nice meal," she said, wanting to get to know him better.

"Sure, stir fry sounds good." As he said this he smiled a little, glanced down, and saw that she was still smiling up at him, skipping happily.