Ritchie was starting to get annoyed. Really annoyed.

She'd had a crappy night. Firstly, they'd decided to try out some new music while she was on shift. It was pretty dire and she'd felt like it had affected her performance quite a bit.

Secondly, Gobei was on bartender duty. He was always ridiculously stingy with the spirits.

Thirdly, it seemed to be asshole night. Every lecherous man and his dog had tried hitting on her in the last hour. She wouldn't have minded if she'd attracted at least one hottie… But no. There seemed to be some kind of bachelor party for the uglies going on tonight.

She wanted to go home. It was only two in the morning and she wanted to go home. It was pathetic.

She'd been sat at the bar with her phone out for the last ten minutes, pretending to text and hoping it would discourage the creep next door from talking to her. Unfortunately he was oblivious to her not-so-subtle hint and continued to yapper away and touch her arm an unnecessary amount.

If this kept up then Ritchie was going to end up taking her frustration out on whoever was nearest. Most likely in some form of violence. But she couldn't. Not while she was in the club. She may not have been on shift now but the staff would still find out and then she'd be in a heap of trouble.

One bad night wasn't worth losing her job over. The first opportunity she saw to get away from this guy she was bolting out of the place and going home. She no longer cared that it was early.

No sooner had she decided, her prayers were answered. But not quite in the way she would have hoped.

"Hey," said a deep voice from behind her, loud enough to be heard over the music.

Ritchie turned round on her stool. Oh great, it was Shizuo. So was he definitely back on the scene now?

"Oh hey," she replied casually. She didn't feel like she could just ignore him like she'd done in the past. He had helped her out the other day after all. She couldn't be that ungrateful.

"Who are you supposed to be? You're interrupting us," Mr. Lecherous Drunk cut in, giving Shizuo an annoyed look.

"Really?" Shizuo cocked an eyebrow and shot Ritchie a quizzical look, who quickly shook her head. "So who's this?"

"My new best friend," said Ritchie sarcastically.

Unfortunately, the drunkard was too focused on Shizuo to notice the sarcasm. "You haven't answered my question! Who are you?" he persisted. Not a smart move.

Shizuo's eyebrow curved even higher. "I'm Shizuo Heiwajima, who the hell are you?"

Ritchie took the second to see the fear set into the man's eyes before deciding this was the opportunity she'd been wanting. Leaving the guys to their testosterone display, she hopped down from the stool and made a beeline for the exit.

She didn't stop once she was outside. She kept walking at a brisk pace, heading her way home like she'd intended. She hadn't gone far when she heard a shout behind her. Now what? If one of those idiots from the club had followed her then somebody was going to get hurt. And it wouldn't be her.

She was just deciding that she'd ignore them and carry on walking when the person shouted out again. "Hey! Dancer girl!"

She knew then that it was Shizuo. She'd never actually told him her name before so that was what he'd always called her. She reluctantly stopped and looked back. She couldn't be bothered with him right now. Even if he had provided her with the chance to escape from the creep at the bar.

"You left your phone on the bar," said Shizuo as he reached her, holding her cell phone out.

"Oh… Thanks," said Ritchie as he handed it to her. She noticed the half smirk on his face and automatically went on the defensive. "What?"

"I never would have pegged you as an Elvis fan," said Shizuo in amusement.

Ritchie froze, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks. It was true. She had a secret infatuation with Elvis Presley. There was even a picture of him set as the wallpaper on her cell phone. But her cell phone had a flip top and so he only would have seen it if he'd purposely snooped and opened it.

"What the hell were you doing looking through my phone?" Ritchie demanded angrily.

"Chill out. I didn't look through anything, I only saw your screen," said Shizuo.

Ritchie didn't care. He'd still intentionally opened her phone. Plus she hadn't wanted anyone to see the background on it – what if he started telling people that she had a closet obsession with a dated icon from the 50's? Not to mention she was still wound up from the crappy night she'd had and she'd been itching to take that frustration out on somebody. This was just the last straw.

So without stopping to think about it she released said frustration in the best way she knew how to… By punching Shizuo straight in the face.

Ritchie may have been a little on the small side but she was fit and she packed more of a punch than people would think. Shizuo's nose made a satisfying crack – he may have been super strong but it looked like he wasn't that unbreakable.

She stopped long enough to see Shizuo's shocked expression and a face full of blood behind his fingers before turning on her heels and taking off. He didn't shout after her this time and she didn't stop running until she reached her front door.

XXX

Ritchie was still in a bad mood the following morning. She had a headache, which she didn't think she'd drank enough to deserve, and her hand now really hurt. She may have been stronger than she looked but Shizuo still had a hard face. She could almost swear her knuckles looked like they were starting to bruise.

Since she was on such a downer she didn't feel motivated to do anything. She pulled a giant can of energy drink out of the fridge and spent the rest of the morning lying on her bed and watching junk on TV. She rarely watched TV nowadays – she'd spent far too much time doing so back in Nerima when her choice of activities were pretty limited. Now her TV was only really used for hangovers.

She'd just had a microwavable hamburger for her lunch when a text message came through on her phone. It was from Izaya. She groaned. She really couldn't be bothered with him today. She reluctantly opened the message. All is said was 'Where are you?'

Charming, thought Ritchie. She replied with a message even shorter, simply saying 'In bed.' If he was going to be blunt then so was she.

She got another text a few minutes later saying 'Don't you want to come out and play?' Ritchie rolled her eyes and tossed her phone aside onto the bed. She wasn't going to reply to that. She decided to go and shower instead.

When she'd gotten out of the shower she checked her phone again. No new messages. Good. He obviously wasn't going to push it. She was just towelling her hair dry when her phone then rang. She groaned again. She should have known Izaya wouldn't be that easy to discourage.

She flipped the phone open and put it to her ear. "What?"

"It's not very polite to ignore me, Ritchie-chan," came the condescending reply.

"Ritchie doesn't want to come out and play," said Ritchie scathingly. She'd learnt that he just ignored her whenever she told him not to call her that. She sometimes hoped that talking in the third person may influence him a little more.

"Don't tell me… You're hungover again, aren't you?" asked Izaya, sounding amused.

"Nope. I'm just not in the mood," said Ritchie shortly. "I'm staying right here."

"Then how about I come to you?" suggested Izaya innocently.

Ritchie made a face, eyeing the montage of Elvis posters and cut-outs she had covering her bedroom wall. There was a very good reason she'd never let Izaya actually inside her apartment before. It was bad enough that Shizuo had found out about her secret obsession last night. It wasn't going to happen again any time soon.

She sighed. "Fine, I'll come out. Where are you?"

Izaya laughed. "Now that's the spirit! Why don't you meet me by Russia Sushi? If you're good I may even buy you lunch."

Ritchie raised her eyebrows. He sounded very chipper – what was up with that? "I'll pass; I already ate. And what's up with you? You sound happy today."

"Are you suggesting I'm not normally happy?" mocked Izaya.

"Happy isn't really the word," said Ritchie, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder while she hunted out some clothes. "Messed up is more like it."

"Careful, Ritchie-chan. You might hurt my feelings," said Izaya, pretending to be hurt.

"And hell may freeze over," concluded Ritchie. She'd found out one of her favourite tops – it was all straps and there was no way she could wriggle into it while she was still on the phone. "I've gotta get dressed anyway. I'll see you later."

She hung up without giving him the chance to say anything else. She teamed up her strappy top with a red mini skirt and her newest and completely to-die-for black and red Christian Louboutin heels. If Izaya tried to get her to do any running or climbing today then one of said shoes was gonna end up in his face.

Her hair was still slightly damp. She quickly ran a brush through it and then left it. It would dry while she was outside. She grabbed her bag, locked up the apartment and headed towards Russia Sushi.

Annoyingly, when she got there Izaya was nowhere to be found. What the hell was he up to now? She didn't really feel in the mood to play hide and seek. Simon – big, black and impossible to miss – was standing on the corner outside the restaurant, doing his usual job of trying to convert as many passers-by into paying customers as he could.

"Hey Simon," greeted Ritchie, wandering over to him. The top of her head didn't even reach his shoulder. "Have you seen Izaya anywhere?"

"Ah, Izaya. He was here a minute ago," replied Simon in his thick Russian accent. "I am sorry, Miss Honda. I no see where he went."

Ritchie sighed heavily. Typical. And she'd dragged herself out of bed for this… "Okay, thanks Simon. Just do me a favour? If you do see him then tell him I'm seriously gonna kick his ass."

She heard Simon's booming laugh behind her as she turned round the corner once more and started back towards her apartment. If Izaya wasn't around here now then she wasn't going to waste her time trying to find him. It was his own damn fault.

She hadn't gone very far when somebody all but barrelled into the back of her.

"There you are, Ritchie-chan!" said Izaya brightly, grabbing both of her shoulders to stop her from falling over.

"What the hell's the matter with you? You nearly pile-drove me!" said Ritchie angrily, whirling around and slapping his hands away. "And what do you mean here I am? You're the one who wasn't where you were supposed to be!"

"I'm sorry, Ritchie-chan. I got bored of waiting; I had to find something to do," said Izaya, like it was a perfectly reasonable excuse. He still seemed to be in a ridiculously good mood. It was undeniably creepy.

"Wow, patience really isn't your virtue. It took me all of ten minutes to get here," Ritchie grumbled. "What's up with you anyway – why are you so happy? It's weird; I don't like it."

Izaya just laughed. "You really don't have any idea?"

"Not the foggiest," Ritchie admitted. "So tell me."

"Actually, why don't you tell me?" Izaya thrust his hands into his pockets and leant forward so that his eyes were level with hers. "Did you really break Shizu-chan's nose?"

Several things flitted through Ritchie's mind at once. One was how had Izaya heard about it so quickly? She knew he made it his job to know everything that went on in this city but that was fast even for him. Another thought was lingering on the word 'broke'. She knew she'd given Shizuo a nosebleed but she hadn't expected to do any real damage… No wonder her hand hurt so much!

Unfortunately she couldn't decide which of these thoughts to voice first. So what came out of her mouth instead was a very unintelligent-sounding, "Huh?"

Izaya leant back, looking disappointed with her response. "Please don't tell me it's not true. I'll be very disappointed."

"When you say 'broke' you meant absolutely, one hundred percent? Not just a rumour?" asked Ritchie.

"Absolutely, one hundred percent," Izaya confirmed. "Please, Ritchie-chan… You should know me well enough by now to know that I can distinguish between truth and poorly garbled stories."

"Then consider me guilty," confessed Ritchie, holding up her right hand as proof. Her knuckles weren't actually bruised like she'd imagined earlier but they were still noticeably swollen. Now she knew why.

Izaya didn't even have to inspect her hand to believe her. His face split into the widest grin she'd ever seen. He looked uncannily like a jack-o lantern. If any other guy had turned that on her she'd have been running as fast as she could in the opposite direction – high heels or not. But with Izaya she knew she'd given up her chance to run away a long time ago.

But at least she knew now why he was so damn happy.

He was still grinning broadly at her. "You know… I think you may just be my most favourite human of all."

"Lucky me," said Ritchie, who didn't see it as much of a compliment.

Izaya sat down on the wall behind him, watching Ritchie thoughtfully. He seemed to be thinking something over. "You wanted to know more about the Black Rider, didn't you?" He patted the wall next to him. "Why don't you sit down? I'll tell you anything you want to know."

Ritchie snorted. "No thanks. I already know plenty about the Black Rider."

"Oh yeah?" asked Izaya sceptically, looking amused.

"Yeah. I knew you weren't telling me everything," said Ritchie accusingly. "So I decided to find out for myself."

Izaya looked taken aback for a moment, then he laughed. "Well now… You just continue to surprise me, don't you?"

Ritchie shrugged, though she was secretly pleased with herself. Izaya was hard to surprise. "I have that effect on people."

"So let's hear what you've learnt," said Izaya interestedly.

"Why? Surely you know all this already," said Ritchie.

"Just humour me," smiled Izaya. "I want to test you and see just how much you've really managed to find out on your own."

Ritchie raised her eyebrows. "What? Like a pop quiz?"

"It could be fun," said Izaya, still smiling.

That was his answer for everything! "Fine," agreed Ritchie with a sigh. "Shoot."

"What's the Black Rider's real name?"

"Celty Sturluson."

"And where is she originally from?"

"Ireland."

"What about her living arrangements?"

"She lives with an underground doctor called Shinra Kishitani."

"And who does she work for?"

Ritchie narrowed her eyes. "You... Amongst others."

Izaya laughed. "You've really done your homework, Ritchie-chan. I'm impressed. Top of the class!"

"Don't get cute," said Ritchie, annoyed. "Were you ever going to tell me any of this stuff?"

"Maybe," Izaya smirked.

Ritchie rolled her eyes. "New choice."

Izaya laughed again. "And maybe not."

Ritchie gritted her teeth. "Thank you. That's very enlightening. Can I go now?"

"Oh come on, Ritchie-chan," said Izaya, still highly amused. "It's my job to sell information to people. Did you really think I'd make an exception for you because we're friends?"

Ritchie flushed and said nothing. That was exactly what she'd thought. Though he was using the term 'friends' loosely here.

Izaya guessed her answer from her silence and laughed. "You did, didn't you? Well I'll tell you what… Seeing as you've entertained me so much today I'll let you in on something different." He got to his feet. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" asked Ritchie as she followed him, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"You'll see," smirked Izaya, annoyingly cryptic as always.

He led the way through the city without saying anything else. Ritchie was completely helpless in her need to know what on earth he was going to show her – she trailed along after him, highly intrigued.

Even when she followed him into an apartment building and he motioned her towards the elevator, she still had no idea what was going on. They got to one of the top floors and only when Izaya produced a set of keys to open one of the doors did Ritchie realise where they must be.

"Welcome to my humble abode," he said, giving her a mock bow and waving her inside.

"All you wanted to show me was your place?" asked Ritchie, looking around the spacious but fairly plain room.

"Do I sense disappointment?" Izaya acted like he was mortally offended. "After I brought you all this way?"

"Well it's not like I'm the first person to see it. You told me before that you often have clients visit you here," Ritchie pointed out, moving across to peer out through the window.

"True," admitted Izaya, following her over to the window. "So what can you see?"

"A wall," replied Ritchie in a bored tone. There was another tall building directly opposite – preventing the apartment from having a decent view.

"Exactly," said Izaya. "Now come through here…" He didn't give Ritchie the choice – he grabbed her hand and pulled her up the open stairway and through another door. "I can guarantee you no client has ever been in here."

"I should hope not," said Ritchie. They were now in his bedroom. She couldn't help but look around interestedly. It was tidy and still quite plain – nothing at all like her apartment.

"Now look through this window," directed Izaya.

Ritchie allowed herself to be towed over to the window opposite – facing in a different direction to the one in the other room. She looked out and couldn't help smiling to herself. Now that was more like it... You could see everything!

The window had a perfect view of what looked like the very centre of Ikebukuro. Buildings lined either side of the main street. People bustled along in their everyday lives, completely unaware that they were being watched from so high up above.

"Okay, now I get your deal," said Ritchie. "I can see why you take such an interest in everyone else's lives when you have such a perfect spot to watch them from."

"You think that's why I brought you here?" asked Izaya, sounding amused.

"No. To be honest I never have any idea why you do anything that you do," said Ritchie truthfully. "I've just learnt to kinda go along with it."

Izaya chuckled. "You really are an interesting human."

Ritchie ignored him. She never knew how to respond to any of his 'human' comments. She distracted herself with looking out of the window again. "I bet this looks amazing at night with everything all lit up."

"Ritchie-chan… Are you hinting for an invitation to come here at night time?" Izaya said right in her ear in a teasing tone.

"Of course I'm fucking not – don't be stupid!" Ritchie protested, automatically defensive.

"What dreadful language from such a pretty mouth!" Izaya taunted.

"Oh shut up," said Ritchie, rolling her eyes. He could be so intolerable at times. "I'm not above slapping you, y'know."

"Or you'll deck me like you did to Shizu-chan?" Izaya grinned, not at all bothered by her threat.

"If you push your luck I will," insisted Ritchie, though she couldn't help grinning back at the thought. She still couldn't believe she'd broke Shizuo's nose! That would certainly teach him for snooping.

"You can come here at night time if you wish though," Izaya continued. "Or whenever else you like."

Ritchie raised her eyebrows. "So if I'm bored at four o'clock in the morning I can just turn up here?" she said sarcastically.

"Yep," replied Izaya simply.

Ritchie wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. Was this some kind of so-called prize for punching Shizuo in the face? "Why would you be happy for me to just turn up whenever I feel like it?"

"Do you ever listen to a word I say, Ritchie-chan?" asked Izaya with a theatrical sigh.

"Only sometimes," muttered Ritchie.

"You entertain me," explained Izaya, like it was obvious. "Do you know how hard it is to find a human as interesting as you?"

"I'm not entirely sure whether I should be flattered or offended by that…" Ritchie frowned.

"Isn't that part of the fun?" said Izaya brightly.

"No, not really," said Ritchie, partly just to disagree with him.

Izaya gave her a wicked smile, his eyes twinkling. "New choice.

Ritchie scowled at him for using her catchphrase. "I hate you."

Izaya just laughed at her again. "I was right. You really are my favourite human."

XXX

Author's Note!

Gahhh, I still can't believe the amazing feedback I've been getting! Especially on the last chapter – I'd even been expecting to get bad feedback on that one! Thanks for being so supportive, you amazing people!

Nice longer chapter with plenty of Izaya to make up for the last one =]