Ritchie was so happy to be out. No work, no other commitments and definitely no Izaya.

Since he'd introduced her to his place she'd been spending far too much time there – easily taking advantage of his offer for her to go up whenever she pleased. She enjoyed being there but at the same time it also annoyed the hell out of her.

Izaya was definitely interesting company and of course interesting was the top quality she looked for in a person. But she hated that he had such a hold on her. She found herself trailing down to his apartment at every spare moment. Even when she was supposed to be catching up on sleep after work she'd still be going there – where she ended up passing out on the couch on more than one occasion.

She even kept a spare pair of Moschino heels there. That definitely wasn't a good sign. The spread of her shoe wardrobe always dictated where she spent most of her time.

It wasn't like she even did much while she was there either. She'd never realised before how much work Izaya did at home. So when he was working, and effectively being boring, she'd while away her time either on her phone or on Izaya's computer. Funnily enough it didn't seem boring like it had back in Nerima. At least now she had more exciting stories to tell.

But it was nice to break away from it for a bit. Ritchie had jumped at the chance when her friend Sei invited her out on a bar crawl with her friends from university.

Ritchie hadn't gone to university herself, but thanks to Sei she'd gotten to experience the best parts of student life. She got the partying side of it and she didn't have to worry about the education part or the tuition fees. It was a win-win situation.

So Ritchie was feeling on a total high by the time they were at the final bar on their list – not to mention more than considerably tipsy. She'd been chatted up several times already and had drank what felt like her body weight in alcohol, so she was feeling pretty upbeat.

She was on the dance floor dancing with Sei and a couple of her student friends, all of whom were much more drunk than she was, when she spotted a very cute dark-haired guy sat over by the bar. Now this was more like it! So far the guys who had chatted her up tonight had all been good-looking but not really her type. This guy definitely fit the bill though.

He was looking in their direction so she smiled at him. He smiled back enthusiastically. That was all she needed.

"Be back in a bit," she told Sei, weaving out of the group and heading over towards the bar. It looked like the night was going to get even better.

XXX

When Ritchie woke up the next day her head was whirling and there was an irritating ringing in her ears. She rolled over with a groan to find a very sound asleep, very naked guy next to her. Huh. She kinda recognised his face… She realised then that she was also naked. No surprise there. This wasn't exactly a common occurrence for her but it wasn't entirely unusual either. She had her own needs to fill after all – she couldn't restrict everything to just the dance floor.

The ringing in her ears seemed to be getting louder and more annoying. She buried her head into her pillow, trying to drown it out, then realised that it was actually her cell phone.

"Are you frickin' kidding me?" she groaned, grasping blinding for her phone which she always kept on the bedside table. When she managed to locate it she flipped it open and held it to her face. "Yeah?"

"You're not still sleeping in, are you Ritchie-chan? I've tried calling you twice already. I'm very bored right now."

Why was Ritchie not surprised as to who her morning caller was? "Yes, I'm sleeping," she said grumpily. "Go find someone else to play with."

"Now you wouldn't be very happy if I did do that, would you?" said Izaya tauntingly. "What if you felt left out?"

"I'm sure I'd get over it. I've never minded sharing," replied Ritchie, her sarcasm only a fraction of what it normally was.

"Well I don't like sharing," said Izaya bluntly.

"Yeah? That's nice," said Ritchie sleepily. She had a feeling he was trying to make a point but she was too tired to try and work it out.

"I heard you brought a stray home last night," continued Izaya, actually sounding just the slightest bit displeased.

Ritchie felt irritated. How had he managed to find out so fast when she'd only found out for herself less than a few minutes ago? She couldn't be bothered to do this right now – she was too tired and too hungover. Why did he care anyway? It wasn't like he was the type to get jealous.

"I don't really think it's any of your business," Ritchie replied shortly.

"Actually I think it is," Izaya disagreed. "I don't like other people playing with my things, Ritchie-chan."

Now that woke Ritchie up. So it wasn't even an emotional attachment – it was just him acting like a selfish child. She felt a surge of annoyance. "I am not your thing! I'm a person. I don't belong to you in any way, shape or form."

"Now this is where you're wrong. I own you, Richelle Honda, and don't you forget that. You already know it's true."

For the first time Izaya wasn't talking in his usual faux friendly tone. Instead he sounded cold and menacing. He was the controller of Ikebukuro and nobody was taking one of his pawns away when it was his game to dominate.

"Who do you think you are; Hades?" said Ritchie, making a lame reference to one of her favourite old Disney movies – something else she had a secret love for. Truthfully she just didn't have a better comeback. "I'm going back to sleep now."

She hung up before he had the chance to say anything else and promptly switched her phone off so that he couldn't call back. Though still annoyed, she was also feeling quite uneasy. Now she could see Izaya the way that people told him – one of the most dangerous men in the city. She'd always known he couldn't be trusted… But she'd never actually felt scared of him before.

"Boyfriend?" Ritchie's new man friend was awake now. He was watching her, appearing completely unconcerned by the issue.

"More like a ball and chain," grumbled Ritchie, burying her face back into the pillow again.

XXX

The next time Ritchie saw Izaya, a couple of days later, it was as if nothing had happened. He met her from her early finish at work in his usual cheery mood.

"Aren't you coming back to my place tonight, Ritchie-chan? You haven't been round in ages," he said reproachfully.

Ritchie didn't point out that it was because the last time she'd spoken to him he'd gotten all weirdly possessive and it had unnerved her. She knew better than to bring it up again. Instead she simply went along with it, though what he'd said about owning her still played on her mind.

So yet again she followed Izaya back to his apartment. He got boring after a while though as he started busying himself with work, so Ritchie distracted herself with his computer. About an hour later her cell phone started ringing. She checked the caller ID – it was Sei. No doubt wanting details about the other night seeing as she hadn't heard from her since then.

As Ritchie answered the call she got up and went through upstairs into Izaya's bedroom, shutting the door behind her. She didn't like people listening in on her phone calls. "Hey Sei, how's it going?"

"I'm alive... I think. I feel like I've had a three-day hangover," Sei complained.

Ritchie smiled. Her own hangover had been bad enough but her friend had been a lot more drunk than she was. "At least you had fun though. Did Arisa and Mena pull in the end?"

"If they did I don't remember…" replied Sei. "I was out of it before we even got to the last bar. But what about you? I heard you picked up a friend."

"Yeah, I found that out for myself the next morning," said Ritchie.

"Oooh, how was he?" asked Sei excitedly. She reproved Ritchie for not having a steady boyfriend and always hoped that the next guy would turn into something permanent.

"To be honest I haven't got a clue. I don't really remember anything," Ritchie admitted. "I don't even know what his name was."

Sei made a sound of disappointment. "You didn't wanna try and arrange to see him again?"

"No, not really," said Ritchie truthfully.

She wondered how Izaya would have reacted if she had. Though she couldn't really tell Sei about that. She hadn't told her anything about her relationship with Ikebukuro's notorious info broker. She knew that Sei wouldn't approve and would tell her to get out while she could. Ritchie wasn't sure if that was even an option anymore…

"Ritch, you there?"

"Oh sorry," said Ritchie quickly, realising she'd been silent for too long. "What did you say?"

"I said you'll have to come with us on the next bar crawl," repeated Sei enthusiastically. "The girls from uni all liked you. Arisa was impressed with your dancing skills."

Ritchie laughed. "Well I should hope so seeing as that's my job! I'd love to do another one though – it was really fun. Thanks again for inviting me."

"You're welcome!" said Sei happily. "And next time we'll find you a guy who's so good that you'll definitely remember!"

Ritchie smiled again. Typical Sei. "We'll see." Her phone beeped at her. "Sei, I'm gonna have to go, I don't have much battery left. I'm glad you've recovered though."

"Amen to that," agreed Sei. "Catch you later, Ritch."

Ritchie tossed her phone aside onto the bed, her thoughts now troubled. Izaya had made a really big issue about the guy the other morning because he'd made it clear he wanted to control her…. Surely that meant he'd be the same with any other guy she hooked up with in the future? Now that was going to bother her. She was a girl. She had her own needs to fulfil.

Feeling grumpy, she went back into the other room. Izaya was sprawled across the couch with his eyes closed – impossible to tell whether he was asleep or not without disturbing him. Most people looked vulnerable when they were asleep. Not him. He just looked angry… If he was even asleep.

Vulnerable. Ritchie rolled the word around in her head. Sometimes Izaya drove her to despair. Other times she almost worshipped him. One thing was for sure – she never would get away from him. Even if she didn't keep willingly going back for more… He'd now made it clear that her contract came with a price. She should have known he wouldn't have kept her around for so long if he intended to just let her leave for free.

The more she thought about the situation the more she hated Izaya for having such a hold on her. And she remembered how she'd actually felt scared of him the other day… That made her mad. She wasn't scared of anyone and she certainly didn't belong to anybody! It made her want to escape from him. But she knew that it was going to be difficult now that she'd had a small glimpse at what she was really dealing with.

She stared at him lying on the couch, looking far from peaceful but still not quite as sinister as usual. Vulnerable… The word came back to her mind. He still wasn't anywhere near that, but right now his defences were definitely down. The infamous intel broker had dropped his guard. A sudden, crazy idea struck her… Would he be easy to take out?

Ritchie moved unthinkingly towards the couch. She put a hand on either side of Izaya's head, taking care not to jostle him, and lifted herself up and onto the couch so that she was straddling him. He still didn't move or give any sign that he was possibly awake.

She placed both hands lightly around his throat. It would be quite easy. The flick blade that he always used was sitting on the table, in plain sight, out of his reach. All she'd have to do was hold him down long enough…

Ritchie frowned to herself. What was she thinking? What was she doing? She was used to diving into stupid things without thinking about it but this was rash even for her. Izaya may drive her crazy at times but she would never have considered killing him before. She was just getting too worked up over how he'd reacted the other day and what she'd just figured out from talking to Sei.

Plus she knew that if she did manage to get away with it she'd probably regret it later. Izaya was both her devil and her god.

Izaya didn't open his eyes but he calmly said, "Trying to kill me while I'm defenceless? Don't you think that's playing dirty?"

So he was awake. It figured. "And you'd know all about playing dirty," said Ritchie pointedly, completely unfazed by getting caught.

Izaya chuckled, making no move to push her away. "Touché. So are you still going to try and carry out your evil deed?"

"I'm thinking about it," said Ritchie. She flexed her fingers around Izaya's neck but she knew she wouldn't do it. Even if she thought she was strong enough to hold him down she wouldn't have. She couldn't.

Izaya raised one hand and wove his fingers into her hair. Probably ready to try and pull her off if she decided she was going to choke him after all. "You can be so predictable, Ritchie-chan."

Ritchie felt annoyance flare. She didn't care that he'd caught her out, but she hated that he seemed to find her so predictable. She didn't think she was predictable. Her crazy decision had even surprised her. Izaya liked to think he knew every move she was going to make. She wanted nothing more than to catch him off guard. To do something he completely would not expect.

She removed one hand from his throat and placed it against his shoulder instead. She dipped her head down and licked a long hot line up the side of his neck. His breathing slowed. She was making him think, making him gauge what she was planning to do.

He had no idea.

Ritchie suddenly bit down hard on Izaya's neck. He stiffened and fisted his fingers in her hair. She grinned against his skin. He hadn't been expecting that one. Predictable? Yeah right. Being able to surprise him probably gave her more of a thrill than anything else the city had to offer.

He tasted like salt and spice. She found she wanted to taste him again. She lifted her head so that she could see his face. He was watching her carefully, still not sure of what she was going to do.

"Don't underestimate me," Ritchie whispered, then pressed her lips hard against his.

She achieved her goal. Izaya froze and remained unmoving beneath her. But then somehow, inexplicably, the hand in her hair was pulling her closer and his lips were suddenly moving with hers.

Only then did Ritchie pull away. Damn. He'd ended up surprising her. He'd never shown any sexual interest in her before. He'd never actually shown an interest in any woman – it had always seemed to be something that just didn't appeal to him. Was he just playing her at her own game?

She studied him carefully. She'd never really noticed before but he was actually quite attractive in a casual sort of way. It had always been his eccentric personality that she'd been addicted to being around.

But now she was discovering just how soft his dark hair was, how the gaze from his brown eyes – so much like her own – intrigued her in so many different ways, how his permanent half smirk was actually quite sexy as well as wicked, how good his lean body felt underneath her…

Izaya looked amused by her prolonged observation. "Something wrong, Ritchie-chan?"

Ritchie was now highly aware of the position they were in. She wasn't so sure if this was a good idea… Their relationship was confusing enough – without adding a physical attraction to the equation.

But life wasn't interesting without a little complication…

"Just shut up and stop being you for just a little while," said Ritchie, tugging his hair sharply before kissing him again.