Ritchie had never been as grateful in her life as she was when the month was finally up. She honestly didn't know if the deprival of alcohol had been so hard because she really was that addicted to it or if it was more just wanting something she'd been told she couldn't have.

Either way she didn't really care. She was just glad it was over. Izaya could damn well suck it, thinking she wouldn't be able to do it. She'd certainly proved him wrong!

But for once, exceeding Izaya's expectations wasn't the first thing on her mind. Right now she was a lot more interested in going out, getting extremely wasted and having a damn good time. There was a foil in her plans however – she'd proposed the idea to Sei, but her best friend had had to decline as it was her and Reita's anniversary.

Of all the rotten luck… What were the chances of it falling on the same day that Ritchie had finished this stupid little challenge? Trying hard not to think about the possibility that it could have been planned that way – anniversary dates would hardly be a difficult thing for a notorious information broker to find out after all – she instead concentrated on finding a suitable drinking partner substitute.

Her next immediate thought was Lexi. They'd had fun the last few times they'd hung out. They could even make it another girls' night out if she wanted to, providing that her friends didn't bring that weird Naomi girl again… It wasn't all that uncommon for Ritchie to be disliked by other girls, but she didn't see why she should have to spend time around someone she clearly wasn't going to get on with. Especially when this was her idea.

She gave Lexi a call and her new friend was definitely up for the idea. She said she'd get in touch with Shiori and Ellie as well. Lexi hadn't been overly fond of Naomi either, so she agreed not to extend the invites any further. Ritchie then managed to get hold of a couple of the girls from Sei's university – whom she'd met on previous nights out – and they both said they'd come too. It looked like things were going to plan already.

Well… Almost to plan.

"Only a month without alcohol and you already can't wait to start drinking again," Izaya tutted, shaking his head theatrically as he watched Ritchie gathering her things and getting ready to leave.

Ritchie had learnt a long time ago not to take Izaya's taunts too seriously, but the prideful part of her could never seem to keep from responding. "Quit trying to guilt me. You already said that this wasn't about my health or to try and keep me off alcohol forever. It was a simple challenge to see if I could do it… And I did. It's over now. So you can damn well stay out of it."

Izaya smirked. "Well I suppose there's always next time."

"There most definitely isn't going to be a next time," Ritchie insisted. She didn't care what measures he resorted to. The 'challenge' was done – game over.

"That's what you think," said Izaya teasingly, catching her around the waist as she walked past and attempting to pull her down onto the couch with him where he was currently lounging.

"Quit it, I'm trying to get ready," Ritchie protested, trying to unwind his arms from around her.

"You won't even allow me five minutes with you?" asked Izaya innocently.

Ritchie rolled her eyes. Why didn't he ever instigate things like this normally? It was usually her who pounced on him first. She knew exactly why he was doing it now though – he was trying to get his way yet again and get her to stay with him. Then he'd win yet another round of control between them… Well that totally wasn't happening this time.

But then… She supposed that five minutes couldn't hurt.

Sighing, Ritchie allowed Izaya to pull her down on top of him. She repositioned herself with a leg on either side of him, in her favourite position of straddling his waist. "If you insist."

Izaya's smirk widened. "You didn't take much convincing, did you Ritchie-chan?"

"If you want five minutes then you're gonna have to stop talking," ordered Ritchie, pressing her lips over his.

As usual, her preferred method of shutting him up succeeded. She tangled her fingers into his hair as she explored the inside of his mouth with her tongue. Izaya's lips moved with hers as he kissed her back roughly, hard enough to hurt but not enough to make her want to stop.

Ritchie responded by catching his bottom lip between her teeth and biting down hard enough to draw blood. Izaya groaned with pleasure, his hands sliding down her skin, his grip bruising against her hips. Ritchie's own hands were moving too, trailing past his neck, her nails raking fine lines into his shoulders…

She broke away from his mouth, her lips still moving across his jaw line and down to his neck. She nipped at him and worked her mouth against his skin, luring the blood up to the surface. She loved trying to leave marks on him where people would see them.

Izaya's fingers dug into her hips as he sighed with pleasure from the sensitive points on his neck. Ritchie then moved back to his mouth, pushing her tongue against his lips and forcing them apart again. Her hands crept back up his neck to pull at his hair.

Izaya's hands slid up her back, inside her top, toying with the clasp on her bra. Ritchie knew instantly where this was going. If it carried on then she was going to end up having to shower and get ready all over again. Then she'd be late to meet Lexi and the other girls… Izaya was not going to ruin her first night out in a month.

Ritchie suddenly sat up and broke contact with Izaya's mouth so abruptly in the middle of their kissing that it left a thin string of saliva stretching out across the gap between their lips before it then broke away. Izaya looked surprised by the sudden halt, which made Ritchie feel smug. He was still so difficult to surprise – she never got tired of seeing that look on his face.

"What is it?" he asked.

Ritchie grinned and planted one last, quick kiss on his mouth. "I believe that was five minutes," she said, climbing off him and readjusting her skirt.

"You're still going?" Izaya still couldn't quite keep the surprise from his expression.

It was Ritchie's turn to look innocent, as she grabbed her phone from the coffee table and slipped it into her bra. "Why wouldn't I be? I never said that I was staying."

She loved that Izaya actually looked a little put out. He really thought that he still had complete control over her… But on this occasion he was wrong. She'd engaged in enough sexual activities over the last month to keep her satisfied for now at least. Right now, alcohol held the much greater appeal. And the idea that she had control for once was possibly even greater still.

After a few moments, Izaya's face returned to its usual half smirk. He sighed theatrically. "You're so cruel, Ritchie-chan."

"And proud. Try not to miss me too much," Ritchie taunted as she left, feeling extremely pleased that, for once, she'd gotten one over on him.

XXX

The night started out quite well. They went to the Ouhei club first so that Ritchie could indulge in the perks of free drinks, which she happily did in excess. God, she'd missed alcohol… Kosuke was tending the bar that night so she was even able to score a few free rounds for the other girls as well.

Afterwards they moved on to a smaller, newer club called Iroppoi. The dance floor was quite cramped, so after being forced to dance alongside strange men for a while Ritchie and Lexi were happy to go and sit at the bar. Lexi was still adamant that none of the guys found in places like this were anywhere close to her type, and Ritchie felt that since her no cheating policy was one of the few morals she had she should stick to it. And pressing up against random, intoxicated strangers was only going to lead in one direction.

Arisa and Mena – Sei's friends from university – were more than happy with this aspect of the scenery change and roped Ellie into their little group as they headed off across the dance floor, intending to find some hotties to pull. Shiori clearly didn't want to play that game because she came to join Ritchie and Lexi at the bar soon after.

"Does everyone in clubs have to try and pull?" Shiori asked loudly over the music as she pulled up a stool.

"We don't," Ritchie replied, indicating Lexi and herself. Well… At least I don't do it now, she thought to herself.

"You have a boyfriend though, don't you?" Shiori pointed out.

"Unfortunately," said Ritchie dryly.

"What about you?" Shiori asked Lexi. "You said before that you didn't have a boyfriend, didn't you?"

Lexi nodded. "Yeah, but none of the guys here really do it for me. I guess you could say I'm quite picky."

"Oh. I get you." Shiori seemed happier that at least one other person wasn't interested in anybody here.

The three of them carried on chatting for a while longer and continued to drink as well. Ritchie was starting to feel more than a little buzzed. Now this was more like it – this was exactly what she'd been missing. She was never taking another no-drinking challenge again, she thought adamantly as she nursed her next drink.

"I think I may have to split soon," Lexi announced after a while. "Or I'm gonna run out of cash. I can't really condone withdrawing anymore until after my next payday."

"Yeah, me too," Shiori agreed grudgingly after checking her wallet.

"Oh… Okay," said Ritchie, disappointed. The other girls still hadn't come back yet. It wasn't like she wasn't used to drinking at bars on her own, but having company deterred at least some of the lecherous creeps.

Shiori seemed to sense her disappointment. "Well if you guys want you can come and crash at my place? I still have some vodka and some bubbly leftover from Christmas."

"I'm in," said Ritchie automatically, a lot happier with this idea.

"Yeah, okay," agreed Lexi. "Sounds fun!"

"Great!"

Shiori extended the invitation out to the other girls on the dance floor but they were still happy guy catching, so they left them to it and only the three of them headed back to Shiori's place. Shiori cracked open the champagne first and they started playing drinking games.

It didn't take long, especially with the champagne, until they were all well and truly wasted.

"I have never…" Shiori started, swaying on her seat, her drink rocking vicariously in her hand. "Had rough sex." Ritchie and Lexi both took a drink from their glasses in response.

"Okay, I have never… made out with a girl," Lexi declared. This time it was Ritchie and Shiori who drank. "Wow, both of you? Really?"

Shiori shrugged. "I actually prefer girls." She didn't really go around bragging that she was bisexual, but it was no secret either.

Ritchie shrugged too. "I was drunk," was her explanation.

Lexi just laughed, not bothered by either confession. "Fair enough."

"I have never…" Ritchie had to stop and think of something. "Had a golden shower."

"Ew! Ritch!" the other girls protested. It was safe to say that nobody drank for that one.

"What? It's hard to think of things I haven't done!"

As the game progressed it became even harder to think of confessions and the girls also started to lose track of whose turn it was. "I have never… been to Disneyland!" Lexi announced randomly.

Shiori took a drink, causing Ritchie to pout at her. "No fair! You've been to Disneyland?! What's it like? Is it really amazing?"

Lexi giggled at her reaction. "Of all the things you could possibly like I'd have never expected Disney to be one of them."

"Hey, Disney's awesome!" Ritchie objected.

"I don't really like Disney. I got dragged there by my family," said Shiori. "You'd probably enjoy it there though if you're into that stuff."

"No fair…" Ritchie pouted again.

"I have never…" started Lexi, forgetting that she'd just had her turn. "Drank this much… ever."

Ritchie had another swig from her drink, but Shiori was on Lexi's side. "Agreed!"

"You don't seem anywhere near as wrecked as I feel," Lexi accused Ritchie, nearly throwing her drink everywhere as she crossed her legs to try and make herself comfier.

"I'm probably not," Ritchie admitted, grinning. A month of alcohol's absence wasn't enough to affect years of practice.

"What's the most drunk you've ever been?" asked Shiori.

"Err…" Ritchie racked her brains. "I passed out in a park once." As far as she could think, that was the worst state she'd ever gotten into. When she'd had her drink spiked didn't really count – that hadn't been entirely self-inflicted.

"Ouch…"

"How did that work out?"

"Very embarrassingly."

After a while longer, Shiori clearly couldn't handle anymore. She got to her feet unsteadily, swaying and rubbing her temples. "I think I need to go lie down… You guys carry on. The rest of the vodka's in the kitchen."

"Are you sure?" asked Ritchie. She knew that she personally wouldn't give away her vodka so generously.

"Trust me; after tonight I don't think I'll ever wanna touch that stuff again…"

After Shiori had disappeared into the other room, Ritchie turned to Lexi. "Do you wanna play Roxanne?" She kept the song on her phone for occasions such as this.

Lexi groaned. "God, you're gonna kill me…"

XXX

Ritchie woke up the next morning to the sound of her cell phone. It was not a welcome sound. To make Lexi feel better about her level of drunkenness she'd played the game of Roxanne with straight vodka, rather than adding a considerable amount of mixer like Lexi had. It had certainly done the trick. Within the first two seconds of waking up, Ritchie was already regretting it.

She groaned and felt around for her phone. Where the hell was it? And where the hell was she? Whatever she was lying on wasn't exactly comfortable. And there seemed to be a few too many limbs for her to comprehend…

"Nngghhh… What are you doing?"

Ritchie opened her eyes and realised that what she'd been prodding was actually Lexi's leg. That was right – they'd crashed out on Shiori's couch together after playing Roxanne. "Sorry. I'm looking for my phone."

"Is that what that is?" Lexi groaned. Well at least someone seemed to be in a worse state that Ritchie was. "Hang on, I think I might be sitting on it…"

She managed to retrieve Ritchie's phone from under her other leg and passed it over. Ritchie barely needed to glance at the caller ID to know who it was. "What do you want now?"

"That's not very nice, Ritchie-chan."

"Well it's not very nice to call me and wake me up at such an ungodly hour," Ritchie replied testily.

Izaya chuckled. "Ungodly hour? It's almost midday."

"Huh?" Ritchie moved the phone away from her ear long enough to check the time on the display. Goddamn, he was right… What time had she even passed out last night? Or this morning even? "Oh…"

Izaya laughed even louder. "Something you want to say to me, Ritchie-chan?"

"Sorry, I guess," Ritchie grumbled. "But I hope you still have a reason for waking me up."

She could just imagine the grin on Izaya's face right now. "Of course! I felt like doing some exploring today and figured I'd get you to come with me."

No 'would you like to' or any other opening phrase that suggested she had a choice. And why did he always seem to want to go 'exploring' when she was hungover? Sometimes – like with many other things – she had a feeling that it was intentional.

But maybe a little fun out and about with Izaya would help her to at least ignore her currently pounding head. "Fine," she conceded. "But only if we can meet at that fast food place by yours and you have a big fat cheeseburger waiting for me." He may not have given her the choice but that didn't mean she couldn't try and set her own conditions.

Fortunately for her, Izaya found her attempt at bargaining to be amusing. "Alright then, if it'll keep you from complaining about how ill you feel."

"You know me too well." Ritchie hung up and looked at Lexi. "If you never hear from me again then I've died from being too hungover to cope with my life."

"Okay," Lexi laughed. "So where are you going?"

"To 'explore' apparently." Ritchie gestured quotation marks with her fingers and rolled her eyes.

Despite not knowing Izaya besides his reputation, Lexi didn't have to ask who had just called. "God, I'm so glad I'm single…"

"You have no idea."

Ritchie reluctantly disentangled herself from Lexi, tracked down her purse and keys and made sure she looked at least semi-presentable enough to go out in public. She checked on Shiori in the other room, but she was still asleep. Lexi promised to pass on Shiori's phone number to her as soon as she could locate her own cell phone.

For once in his life, Izaya was true to his promise and was waiting for Ritchie with a takeout package in his hand. Ritchie made an immediate beeline for the bag and ripped it open as soon as he handed it over, inhaling the rather glorious smell of meat, cheese and grease.

"Sometimes I think I may actually like you," said Ritchie. She ignored the still queasy feeling in her stomach and dug into the burger anyway. She'd learnt from many experiences that it was much better to force feed her stomach, rather than letting it get its own way. Food soaked up the excess alcohol quite nicely.

Izaya grinned at that. "I think you mean all the time, Ritchie-chan."

"Yeah, right. Don't push it."

Ritchie already felt a lot better after eating and was able to feel a little more enthusiastic about wandering around with Izaya in an attempt to sniff out something exciting. With him, she was sure it wouldn't take very long to find something along those lines.

They passed by the Iroppoi club and Ritchie wondered if Arisa, Mena or Ellie had managed to successfully pull in the end. She hoped they'd at least had a good time either way, seeing as she was the one who'd organised the night out. Maybe she was better off leaving that part up to Sei in the future…

She was distracted from her thoughts as Izaya suddenly grabbed her hand and yanked her roughly to one side. "Hey, what the hell are you…" Ritchie's question trailed off as she watched a trashcan sail past them. "Fine, I'll give you that one…"

But Izaya's attention wasn't on her anymore. He was looking straight ahead, his mouth curving up into his trademark smirk. "Too slow, Shizu-chan. You'll have to do better than that."

"How many times have I told you to stay away from Ikebukuro?" Shizuo growled. "I already chased you away from here last night."

"Wait… Here as in Ikebukuro or here as in here, here?" Ritchie interrupted.

She didn't need to wait for an answer though – she knew what Shizuo had meant. And she was certain that it wasn't a coincidence. Why else would Izaya be hanging around outside a nightclub on his own?

Last night she and the other girls hadn't even known themselves that they were going to the Iroppoi club until they'd actually decided to move on from Ouhei. So there was only one way that Izaya would have known where she'd ended up…

"Are you kidding me? Did you follow me again?!"

"Aww look, Shizu-chan. You let the cat out of the bag," Izaya chastised the bartender, looking amused.

Shizuo raised his eyebrows. "What, so you just follow her around like some kind of stalker; is that it?"

"That's exactly it," Ritchie said angrily before Izaya could answer. She then turned towards said infuriating boyfriend. "What the fuck are you trying to do?! What makes you think you can follow me everywhere I go?"

"I don't follow you everywhere, Ritchie-chan…" said Izaya condescendingly.

"No. Don't start this," Ritchie warned him. "I'm done with your crappy half answers. I swear, if you don't give me a real explanation…"

There was suddenly a loud crunching, wrenching sound and Ritchie turned to see Shizuo rip a stop sign up out of the ground. He held it up menacingly. "Want me to kill him for you?"

Ritchie was so angry right now that she didn't even stop to think about it. "Yes. Please."

"Awesome."

"Now Ritchie-chan, don't you think that's a bit harsh?" Izaya put on his best hurt voice, but he still backed away as Shizuo started towards him with the stop sign.

Ritchie didn't know whether to follow or to stand and watch, but her feet seemed to make the decision for her. Maybe she could get a punch in before Shizuo got to him. "Don't you think it's a bit harsh that I can't have one night to enjoy myself without you butting in? Even after that ridiculous challenge you made me do?"

Shizuo clearly had no sympathy for their argument. "Hey, you may wanna step back," he advised Ritchie gruffly as he took a swing with the stop sign.

Izaya ducked out of the way and retreated further. "Shizu-chan's right for once. You see, he's all brawn and no brains. He doesn't really know what he's doing with that thing…"

"Arghhh!" Shizuo roared and charged at him with the stop sign.

Izaya skipped aside at the last moment, making the movement look effortless, as Shizuo ploughed straight past into the wall ahead. Laughing in delight, Izaya skipped back towards the road. He'd forgotten about Ritchie though, whose anger hadn't subsided yet. Now that Shizuo was temporarily out of the way she had her chance.

She rushed after Izaya and shoved him in the chest as hard as she could. "Hey! We're not done here!"

For once Izaya hadn't seen it coming and staggered back a few steps, looking mildly surprised. He regained his composure just as quickly though and sighed theatrically, "Don't you think you're taking this a little too personally?"

"How else am I supposed to take it?! I did your stupid little challenge, so I had every right to go out and drink as much as I liked! Were you gonna try and stop me or something? Is that why you were following me?"

Izaya retreated backwards again, though his expression was still composed. "Now you're just making things up, Ritchie-chan. Did I say anything like that?"

"You don't have to say it! I know what you're like and I know you'd find it fucking amusing to keep me off alcohol just that little bit longer!" As Izaya kept backing up, Ritchie still followed. He was not going anywhere until he admitted why he'd followed her last night.

"It always comes down to alcohol with you, doesn't it?"

"So what? That's not the point!" Ritchie objected.

"Ritchie-chan…"

"I'm oh so very sorry if you can't handle me wanting to hang out with someone else for a change..."

"Ritchie-chan…"

"But do you know what? My life doesn't just revolve around you!

"Ritchie-chan…"

"Don't 'Ritchie-chan' me!"

"For god's sake Ritchie, will you just listen to…"

Wham. Whatever Izaya had wanted her to listen to, Ritchie didn't find out. She was aware of a brief surge of pain before everything went black…

XXX

When Ritchie woke up again the first thing she was aware of was the agony inside her head. She felt like she'd been hit by a train. Where the hell was she? She opened her eyes warily, wincing at the light, to find both Izaya and Shizuo standing over her. What the… In what world would they be caught dead in the same room together?

She groaned. "Did I die and go to hell?"

Izaya chuckled. "See? I told you she'd be fine."

"I don't feel fine, asshole." Ritchie started to sit up but her head span sickeningly.

"No, no, don't sit up so fast! You may have a concussion!"

"Huh?" Ritchie ignored the advice and craned her head, trying to see who else had joined the party.

Izaya put both hands on her shoulders and pushed her back down onto the couch. "Listen to the good doctor, Ritchie-chan."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Ritchie tried to slap his hands away but her movements felt sluggish. "Wait, did you say doctor?"

Sure enough, Shinra appeared in her eye line as well. At least he looked concerned, unlike the others. "How are you feeling?"

"Like somebody's smashed my skull in," Ritchie grumbled. "What the hell happened to me?"

"Well somebody didn't listen to me and got in the way of a rogue vending machine," said Izaya, his voice full of amusement.

"Wait, you hit me with a vending machine?!" This time Ritchie directed her anger at Shizuo.

"It's not like I meant to hit you," Shizuo bristled. "I was aiming for him."

"Your aim needs some work, Shizu-chan." Izaya shook his head. "Then maybe you won't go round clobbering poor, defenceless girls."

Ritchie glared at him. "Who are you calling…"

Before she could finish Shizuo had grabbed Izaya by the collar and jerked him closer. "What was that?" he snarled dangerously.

"Hey! Quit it, you two!" Shinra protested worriedly.

Izaya didn't seem at all worried though. In fact, he looked positively entertained by the situation. "Now, now, Shizu-chan… Surely you know it's rude to pick a fight in somebody else's home."

"Then stop giving me a reason to," Shizuo growled between his teeth, tightening his grip on Izaya's collar. "Heads up – you breathing is a reason in itself!"

The next moment, Izaya and Shizuo had been pushed apart by something powerful and were suddenly standing on opposite sides of the room. Both of them looked a little taken aback. Celty appeared between them, shadows still stretching from her fingers. They then disappeared just as quickly as they'd appeared.

"Thanks Celty," said Shinra gratefully. He was the only one who didn't seem surprised by what had just happened.

Celty pulled her communications device out of her body suit. She keyed in a quick message and showed it to Izaya. 'No fighting in the apartment.'

He raised his hands. "Hey, I wasn't the one who started that," he said innocently.

Celty irritably typed another response. 'I don't care who started it – I'll finish it!'

Izaya simply shrugged. "Alright."

Celty went back to the first message and showed it to Shizuo as well. "Fine," he grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.

Celty then came over to Ritchie and typed out a different message for her. 'Are you alright?'

"I will be once I rethink the company I keep," replied Ritchie, shooting Izaya another annoyed look.

"I did try to warn you, Ritchie-chan," said Izaya, shaking his head again. "But you just wouldn't listen to me."

"Come over here and my fist will listen to your face."

"Now, now…" Shinra interrupted, albeit a little nervously. "You took quite a nasty bump to the head. You shouldn't over-exert yourself."

"Not even a little bit?" Ritchie asked innocently.

Even Shinra couldn't help but smile at that. "Maybe after you feel better."

"And I can always do the over-exerting for you until then," Shizuo cut in, cracking his knuckles menacingly. Celty hit his arm as a warning. "Okay, okay. Don't worry, I won't do anything in here."

"Anyway," said Shinra hastily, trying to change the subject. "You're going to need to take it easy for a little while – at least for the rest of the day. Keep an eye out for any key symptoms… Vomiting, slurring of speech, double vision, any worsening of your headache, excessive drowsiness, numbness of limbs… If you do experience any of these then call me straightaway."

"Alright," Ritchie agreed without argument, thankful that she wasn't on shift for a few nights now. She'd never been a huge fan of doctors, but she had to admit that being treated by Shinra was definitely preferable to going to a hospital.

"And Izaya, you're going to have to keep an eye on her," Shinra added.

"Why me?" asked Izaya, not entirely thrilled by the idea.

"Because I'll come and break your neck if you don't," said Shizuo.

"Shizuo!" Shinra chastised him.

The bartender shrugged. "Just a little incentive."

"Violence isn't the answer, Shizu-chan," Izaya tutted. "Besides, you were the one who knocked her out in the first place."

"I swear, I'm going to wring your goddamn neck…"

Ritchie put her hands over her ears. "Just shut up, all of you! You're making my head hurt even more!"

That was enough to make them all be quiet. "Right. Let's clear the room," Shinra announced professionally. The others complied and started to file out, but Shinra stopped Izaya as he went to walk past too. "Hang on Izaya, you wait here…"

"So you're saying you want me to play babysitter again?" asked Izaya, unimpressed.

"She is supposed to be your girlfriend," Shinra pointed out. "It's your duty – don't be so heartless, Izaya. Plus it's only until tomorrow. If she's okay by then, then there shouldn't be any lasting effects."

"And trust me, you're not the only one unhappy about this," Ritchie grumbled, as she stared up at the ceiling. Having to be looked after was not a welcome idea. Having to be looked after by Izaya was even worse.

The fact that Ritchie didn't like the idea either made Izaya suddenly feel a lot happier about the situation. He grinned. "Then again, I'm sure I can think of some way to make it more interesting…" Ritchie did not like the sound of that.

Shinra either didn't notice the ominous promise behind Izaya's words or he was choosing to ignore it. "Glad to hear you're on board. She needs rest, so she'll still be allowed to sleep… But you should wake her up every four hours just to check on her."

"Every four hours," Izaya repeated, amusement still lacing his tone. "Got it. Sound good to you… Ritchie-chan?"

Right now Ritchie couldn't think of anything worse. She had a banging headache that apparently she wasn't even allowed to sleep off properly, she was probably likely to puke at some point in the night and her reluctant so-called 'nurse' was better known as being a sadistic information broker…

She sighed. "I miss just being hungover."

XXX

Author's Note!

Hey guys! Last you heard from me was when I had a bit of an issue with a copycat regarding this story. Just to let you all know that the problem was solved almost immediately. I don't know whether it was flagged up to the site itself and the admin had it removed or if the girl just freaked out and took it down herself xD

But before it disappeared I was genuinely honoured to see how many people were messaging her and sticking up for me! You have no idea how touched I was by all of your support. I genuinely felt like Mikado with all of the Dollars coming to my aid ;D So thanks again for all of your continued support – you all really came through for me 3

And on a better note I've started experimenting with one-shots a bit more (since we know how terrible I am at writing things that AREN'T long as feck!) I did a little festive themed one about Izaya and Ritchie over Christmas in case you didn't know. It's called "Santa's Little Helper" if anyone fancies reading it – you can find it on my profile :3

Oh and just a heads up that if you reviewed when I put up the copycat notice then the site probably won't let you review this chapter (just in case you get confused!) So feel free to leave the review on another chapter if you so wish ;D

Also sorry for the repost on this one! I went and uploaded the wrong file like an absolute asshat -_- Hopefully I've got it right this time! Sorry for any confusion.