The next morning Ritchie woke up in her own bed. It wasn't until she'd gotten up and made some breakfast that she remembered what had happened last night.

Damn… What had she been thinking? Like their relationship needed anymore complications. Though she was glad at least that she'd made the smart decision to come home and hadn't gone any further than making out.

She'd wanted to figure out what was actually going on before she did anything else stupid. For all she knew Izaya was just playing her. He'd been willing enough to co-operate last night but he hadn't been particularly bothered by her abrupt departure either. It wasn't a game she really wanted to play.

Plus even she wasn't so much of a slut that she'd sleep with two different guys in the space of a few days.

She wasn't sure what the best plan of action would be. Avoiding Izaya altogether for a little while seemed like the simpler option, but that would look really obvious. She could always just carry on as normal and pretend like nothing had happened, but she was sure that Izaya would ruin that for her too.

Also she wasn't sure if she was even completely in control of herself now. She certainly hadn't intended on starting anything last night. She'd started off wanting to murder him and instead they'd ended up making out. What was up with that?

Ritchie groaned. She'd definitely made things more complicated. She should have stuck to one night stands with strangers from night clubs.

Her cell phone suddenly started to ring, making her jump so that she nearly dropped her half-eaten toast on the floor. She eyed the caller ID warily. Oh great… It looked like she was going to have to face the music sooner than she would have liked. She was tempted to turn her phone off but this was Izaya after all. He'd keep on bugging her until he got what he wanted.

With a sigh Ritchie answered the phone. "What's up?"

"Fancy doing some exploring today?" asked Izaya brightly.

"Exploring?" Ritchie repeated sceptically.

"It's been so boring lately!" exclaimed Izaya dramatically. "There's bound to be something interesting going on somewhere. You just have to know where to look."

Ritchie hesitated. It felt like she'd be giving Izaya ample opportunity to make fun of her about the events of last night. But she couldn't help feeling tempted. She'd spent so much time at his place lately, but it had been a while since they'd actually just wandered around the city trying to sniff out anything exciting.

"Yeah okay," Ritchie agreed. "I've gotta shower and get dressed first though. I'll be out in about twenty minutes?"

"Excellent!" replied Izaya happily. "Meet me by Raira Academy."

"Sure," said Ritchie, hanging up.

Great… He sounded like he was in one of those weird happy moods again. She was starting to wish she hadn't answered the phone after all.

XXX

Ritchie felt on edge all morning. She kept waiting for Izaya to say something about the night before but he never did. He was still upbeat and acting as if nothing had happened. Ritchie felt a little grateful for it but she couldn't understand why he wasn't taking the chance to tease her.

Maybe girls came on to him all the time. Maybe he was used to it. Ritchie had a feeling this wasn't true – most girls probably wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot barge pole – but, annoyingly, she felt a little jealous at the idea.

She was distracted from her thoughts by a roar like a lion, not far away. She looked around confusedly, trying to see where the sound had come from, but Izaya had suddenly grabbed her hand and dragged her off in the opposite direction.

It took Ritchie a few seconds to grasp the situation as she tried to keep up – thankfully she was wearing her red Karen Millen boots, which she could run in no problem. Another roar from behind them confirmed that the lion she'd imagined was actually Shizuo.

She'd been so caught up with her thoughts that she hadn't even realised that Izaya had led them down towards the area where Shizuo lived. This was obviously his last resort for not being able to find anything else interesting.

"So this is your idea of exciting?" Ritchie shouted to Izaya as they ran, still trying to keep up. Damn, he was fast... He'd had a lot more practice at running away from Shizuo than she had.

"Of course!" replied Izaya happily. "Are you telling me it isn't yours?"

Ritchie couldn't help but smile. "Maybe it is."

She never would have imagined that one of her new pastimes would include running away from a very pissed-off bartender. It was like running away from the bad guy. Though in this case she realised that Shizuo was probably the good guy and that Izaya and herself were the villains. Well her parents had always told her she had a very warped idea of right and wrong.

Even after Ritchie was sure they'd left Shizuo behind they still kept running. It was very easy to lose track of time while you were running. But as they started to pass more crowded streets she felt herself become more alert, not wanting to crash into anyone or anything.

Unfortunately Izaya didn't seem to have done the same and pulled Ritchie towards the main road just as a car came speeding down. Without stopping to think Ritchie grinded to a halt and grabbed Izaya's arm with her free hand, using both to pull him back with as much strength as she could muster.

Izaya crashed into her, a surprised look on his face. It would have been almost comical if Ritchie hadn't been so angry that he'd almost gotten them both run over. The car zoomed past with its horn blaring.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you stupid?" she cried. "You could have killed us both!"

People around were starting to stare. Ritchie ignored them but she did lower her voice. She didn't understand. Izaya was always so street smart – this was uncharacteristic and also very careless of him.

"Didn't your mom ever tell you to look both ways before crossing the street?" she said sarcastically.

Izaya let go of Ritchie's hand and shook his arm out of her grip, looking disgruntled. "You shouldn't worry so much, Ritchie-chan."

Ritchie flushed. "You wish." He hadn't apologised or even thanked her. Big surprise there. "I'm going home." She stalked off in the direction they'd just come from without a backward glance.

XXX

Ritchie was in a bad mood for the rest of the day. She spent both the afternoon and evening alternating between watching rubbish on TV, needlessly tidying things and checking her cell phone. This only resulted in her getting increasingly annoyed at herself.

What annoyed her even more was that she felt like it should have been a bigger fight for her to get so worked up over. It's almost like a petty lovers' tiff, she thought bitterly to herself.

She proceeded to spending an unnecessary amount of time arranging her collection of stuffed toys on her bed. They were all different-sized variations of a koala-like creature from her favourite old Disney movie, Lilo & Stitch. The movie just so happened to have a lot to do with Elvis too, which was probably the reason Ritchie liked it so much.

This was another reason why she didn't really want people seeing her place. She didn't want anyone to think that she was just a big kid. She was far from being child-like but she still couldn't help her soft spot for her little collection. They'd all been tossed out of her bed from her late night tryst with the guy from the club the other night, so she made sure she put them all back carefully.

This wasn't getting her anywhere. Her mood was just getting worse. She decided she'd go and pay Sei a visit. She still hadn't told her friend anything about Izaya, so she couldn't really complain about the situation, but she knew she'd at least feel better having company.

Grabbing her phone and keys, she went and opened the front door… Only to find Izaya standing there, about to knock. He looked taken aback for a second but his features quickly fell back into his usual smirk. "Were you waiting for me, Ritchie-chan?"

Ritchie took no notice of what he'd said. "What are you doing here?" she asked, still surprised to find him on her doorstep.

"I came to make up," he said cheerfully. "Aren't you going to let me in?"

"Not a chance in hell," said Ritchie, remembering that she was still pissed off at him. She put one hand on the doorway so that he couldn't get past.

"Come on, Ritchie-chan. You've seen my place; it's only fair," Izaya persisted.

"No way," said Ritchie resolutely.

"Your photo's interesting," commented Izaya, looking over her shoulder.

"What photo?" asked Ritchie, confused.

She fell for it and looked back behind her. Before she realised what had happened Izaya had ducked under her arm and into her apartment. Ritchie ran after him, the door falling shut as she let go of it.

"Hey! I didn't say you could come in!" Ritchie protested, grabbing the back of Izaya's coat.

"Aww don't be boring, Ritchie-chan. I only want to look around," said Izaya innocently.

"I don't care! You're breaking and entering," insisted Ritchie.

"Well technically I didn't break anything," Izaya pointed out.

"I'll make up for it by breaking your face," threatened Ritchie, pulling his coat resolutely.

"There's no need to be so mean, Ritchie-chan," said Izaya brightly, pulling his arms out of his sleeves and slipping out of his coat.

Annoyed, Ritchie tossed the coat aside onto the breakfast counter as she watched Izaya disappear down the hallway. She knew she wouldn't be able to stop him. Nobody could stop Izaya Orihara from doing exactly what he wanted.

"I need a drink," Ritchie groaned to herself.

Dreading to think what Izaya was doing in her apartment, Ritchie tried to ignore the fact that he was there and went to look in the fridge. Why was there nothing alcoholic in here? She checked the cupboards. Same story there too.

She even crouched down to look in the cupboard under the sink, but unless she wanted to drink bleach then she was out of luck. Maybe she could find some way to slip Izaya some…

"I'm guessing you like koala bears?"

"What?" Ritchie tried to get up too quickly and banged her head on the underside of the sink. She got up slower on her next attempt, rubbing her head and trying not to look guilty.

"What were you doing down there?" asked Izaya, looking amused.

"Looking for alcohol," grumbled Ritchie. She still couldn't believe that she didn't have a drop in the whole place.

Izaya tutted theatrically. "Alcohol's bad for your health, Ritchie-chan."

"It's a bit late for that," Ritchie snorted. "What did you say before?"

"I was wondering why you had lots of koala bears," said Izaya.

"They're aliens, not koalas," said Ritchie, trying to sound casual about it. She was at least glad that he hadn't commented on her Elvis collection.

"Aliens?" repeated Izaya, grinning.

"Yes, aliens," said Ritchie impatiently. He was wearing that amused look that she always hated if it happened to be aimed at her. "I didn't decide it. He's a character."

That only made Izaya's grin widen. "So would you say these alien toys are important to you?"

Ritchie's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

Izaya just gave her another grin and then skipped off towards the bedroom. Ritchie chased after him. She felt almost like she was dealing with a problematic child.

"You'd better not touch any of my stuff!" she shouted, following Izaya into the bedroom to find him throwing her Stitch toys onto the floor. "Hey! Stop it, I only just sorted them!"

"How do you sleep with all of these taking up your bed?" asked Izaya, inspecting one of them.

Ritchie ignored his question and seized his arm, trying to grab the toy from him. "Give it back!"

"Say please," taunted Izaya, holding it high above his head so that she couldn't reach it.

"Give it!" repeated Ritchie irritably, trying to pull his arm back down to her height.

Izaya just laughed at her. "You'll have to put up a better fight than this, Ritchie-chan."

"How about I just knee you in the balls?" growled Ritchie.

The next thing she knew Izaya had dropped the Stitch toy and pushed her up against the wall. He put both hands on the wall on either side of her so that she couldn't escape, pinning her with his body.

"Now do you really want to do that?" he asked in a low voice, smirking.

Ritchie blew her hair out of her face. He was so close. Too close. Even when they'd made out last night their bodies hadn't been this close together. Her breasts were pressed up against Izaya's chest and it was making her feel incredibly hot all over.

"Well? Have I made you speechless, Ritchie-chan?" Izaya teased softly, amused by her prolonged silence.

"Just shut up," said Ritchie, grabbing his face with both hands and kissing him roughly.

She didn't care that she hadn't caught him off guard this time. For all she knew he'd probably planned the whole thing out. But right now Ritchie had one thing on her mind and one thing only. Nothing else was going to matter any time soon.

She placed both hands on Izaya's chest and shoved him back until they hit the bed. She pushed him down onto it and climbed on top of him so that she was straddling his lap.

She tugged at the hem of his shirt. "Off," she ordered.

Izaya gave her his usual amused look but he complied, obediently raising his arms as Ritchie pulled his shirt off. He opened his mouth to say something but Ritchie suddenly crushed her lips against his again. It seemed to be one sure way of shutting him up.

She was glad that she always wore such skimpy tops when it came to situations like this. The black semi see-through one she was currently wearing simply tied together at the front, so she was able to quickly untie and slip out of it without even breaking contact with Izaya's mouth.

Her bra soon followed her top to the floor as Izaya's fingers swiftly unhooked the clasp at the back. His hands slid down her body, his grip bruising against her hips. He pulled the zipper on her skirt down next. Ritchie had to re-position herself across Izaya's lap so that she could finish removing her skirt.

She tossed it aside and went back for Izaya's lips once more but he suddenly flipped her over onto her back and rolled on top of her, pinning her down on the bed with the weight of his body. He grabbed both of her wrists so that she couldn't move.

Ritchie stared up at him in surprise. She'd been in control a few seconds ago… What had just happened?

Izaya smirked at the look on her face. "Don't look so surprised, Ritchie-chan. You're forgetting who's in control here."

Ritchie glared at him but she couldn't really argue against his point when she couldn't even move. Plus she wasn't exactly protesting against the position they were in. Instead she contented herself with grumbling, "Do you ever stop talking?"

Izaya just grinned and bowed his head down to whisper in her ear. His hot breath tickled her skin. "Let's find out, shall we?"

XXX

Author's Note!

Those of you from Deviantart have probably seen that I'm on a little hiatus from fanfiction and fanart at the moment so that I can concentrate on my original work. But I've had this chapter half written for a little while now so I just wanted to get this part finished!

Gah. I had way too much fun writing this one! Is it weird that I'm kinda addicted to writing this story? T_T