So, uh, hey, you guys! :D I've been frequenting this site for years, but I've never written a fanfiction before... However, I read and watched DRRR! this summer and liked it so much that I felt an undeniable need to write something for it ;

I promise the story picks up! Right now, though, it's in the "setting up" stage, so bear with me! :) Some side notes: I messed with Izaya's "normal family life" in this and took out Kururi and Mairu in order to make rewriting his past a bit simpler. Sorry to anyone who really likes them ;o; And, the famous...

Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara! It wouldn't be as awesome as it is without Narita!

Also, thanks so much to my wonderful beta, pssty (LJ user). I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have someone else to point out my convoluted grammar and typos ;A;

Hurriedly, Akiko rounded the nearest corner, her breath coming in short, labored pants. Far above her, thunder rolled in the dark sky and, behind her, the sound of footsteps was growing louder and louder until it rang out clearer than the noise of the storm.

She stumbled over a pile of trash as she ran down an alleyway, and it was all she could do to keep from crying out in pain as the movement jostled the laceration along her side. Just as she thought that she had finally reached a safe place, a high wall seemed to rise up out of the darkness, trapping her in the alley.

A dead end.

The girl turned around, looking about for something, anything she could use to defend herself.

At the mouth of the alleyway, Akiko could hear her pursuers sprinting through a large puddle, coming ever closer to where she was only barely hidden by darkness.

"Where'd that bitch go?" one of the men asked in frustration, and – with a startled jump of her heart – she could hear him tapping an aluminum baseball bat against his foot.

"She couldn't've gone far," replied one of his buddies, "This alley's a dead end."

There was a moment of tense silent before the man who had just spoken snapped at the others.

"Well? Go find her!"

Akiko's heart clenched in fear, and something like a scream was trying to claw its way out of her throat.

Just as the small group started to make its way towards her, Akiko dove against the wall of the alley, hidden by a trashcan and a pile of bags. If they just didn't come all the way down the alleyway, she would be fine. She was going to be okay, she was-

"Oh? What are you doing here?" she heard a low voice chuckle over her, "Did you think you could hide?"

Akiko's head snapped up in horror as she gaped at the man standing beside her; her hiding spot hadn't worked out after all.

"No, please!" she cried, doing nothing to stifle the sobs and screams that had been threatening to escape since this chase had begun.

The girl had no idea what she had done wrong. The day had been like any other. She had gone to school, and then walked home with her kouhai so she could tutor him. She had left his house at the same time she always did, just as the sun was beginning to sink, with plans to stop at the grocery store for her mother before she got home.

And that's when the group of young men had noticed her.

"P-please!" she begged, "I don't even know what I've done!"

Pain ran along her spine, and Akiko's vision momentarily blurred for a moment, returning just as she collapsed on the rain-soaked cement. Her dark eyes peered up fearfully as the man over her raised his baseball bat once more.

"You stupid bitch, you think we'll let someone off easily if they beg? No one gets away with messing with us!" he laughed, and his friends were beginning to collect around him, all wearing sinister grins.

"I didn't do anything!" shrieked Akiko, "I don't even know who you are!"

"Aw, you've already insulted us, little girl, there's no need to add lying to your list of wrong-doings," chuckled the man, and the others echoed him.

Akiko saw one of them pull a knife from his jacket, and that baseball bat came up again. A small gasp left her lips, and she didn't even have time to raise her arms over her head in an attempt to defend herself.

Only two minutes later, there now lay a bloodied mass of flesh where there had previously been a horrified girl. Blood ran freely from the corpse, trickling down the girl's skin and pooling on the ground where it was carried away by the rain, creating a large, pale red puddle around the men's feet.

As the others busied themselves with cleaning their weapons, the man who had spoken before pulled a can of spray paint from his coat, grinning widely to himself as he popped off the cap and shook it.

A soft hiss accompanied the green paint that moved along the wall over Akiko as the man quickly drew the familiar figure. Though the paint was streaked slightly from the downpour, the shape was unmistakable.

Over Akiko's corpse was now a green, smiling skull and crossbones.

"Alright, boys, it looks like we're done here," said the man cheerfully, pocketing the paint and reaching to take his baseball bat from one of his accomplices.

The group left almost as quickly as they had come, but just as they left the alleyway, the head of the group paused for a moment to turn around and survey their handiwork with a self-satisfied grin.

Laughing now, he hurried to catch up with his friends.

"No one crosses the Farewell Rogers, you stupid bitch!" he called over his shoulder.

Orihara Izaya was bored.

No, that was putting it mildly. If he were being honest with himself, Izaya would put himself somewhere between listless and downright depressed. It had been two months since Masaomi had left, and yet Izaya hadn't accomplished nearly as much as he would have liked as far as expressing his love for the humans of Ikebukuro went.

Well, really, in two months time, he hadn't accomplished anything.

The Dollars had once more slipped into blissful obscurity, the Yellow Scarves were quiet – if not nonexistent, and any remaining members of Blue Square had either moved out of town or now did their best to live like regular civilians.

Needless to say, Izaya wasn't having any fun.

With an almost heartbroken sigh, Izaya clicked out of the chat window on his computer screen. No one was online right now. How was he supposed to play with any of his beloved humans when he couldn't even talk to them? It made sense that all of them had better things to do than chat at two in the afternoon, but still! He needed something, even just a little chat room, to take his mind off of the void he felt.

But, of course, when he needed them most, his humans had abandoned him.

Sighing again, Izaya shifted where he sat in his chair so that he could rest his head against the arm he had sprawled across his desk. He narrowed his dark eyes at the small calendar that stood beside his monitor, honing in on one day in particular.

Most of the surrounding dates were filled in with appointments or personal plans – of course written in a shorthand only Izaya understood; he couldn't have Namie knowing what he was up to all the time – but one day was completely empty. Day four of May stood out mockingly, emphasized by the bright red circle that surrounded its emptiness.

Giggling a little too loudly for the silent office, Izaya muttered under his breath.

"Well, isn't that special~? I've nearly survived another year. How exciting!" the man clapped gleefully a few times, and his giggling increased a little in volume.

But his laughter suddenly ceased as he gave the calendar a particularly dirty look.

"But I really don't need you telling me how old I'm getting," he sneered at the little calendar accusingly, glaring for a moment longer before he burst once more into cackling.

"Not that I'm not enjoying your constant lapse in sanity," interrupted an irritated voice, "But some of us are actually trying to work here."

Grinning broadly, Izaya turned his attention to where Namie stood on the second story pulling files from his expansive bookshelves.

"Eh, Namie? This is my office, and I'll be as noisy as I like," replied Izaya with a happy smirk on his face, "Besides, one of us needs to laugh sometimes. And seeing how you're so serious, I suppose I've gotta laugh enough for the both of us."

Izaya fell silent once more, fixing his employee with a blank stare as his smirk vanished from his pale face into a tight line.

Namie scowled at the man and went back to fishing papers out of the file she currently held cradled in one of her arms. It was silent for about half a minute before Namie glanced down and saw that her employer was still watching her with that empty expression on his face.

"What on earth are you doing?" she questioned testily, frowning.

Izaya's brows tensed over his narrowed eyes, and he leaned forward a bit in his chair so that he could rest his elbows on his knees and steeple his fingers before his face.

"So serious," replied Izaya softly, and it was only then that Namie realized the man was imitating her.

As soon as he saw the realization wash over his employee's face, Izaya's façade shattered, and he broke out into laughter once more.

Shaking her head with a groan of frustrating, Namie turned back to her work. She had been working for Izaya too long for his jokes to bother her. Besides…

The laughter had gradually faded into giggles and then into irregular chuckles until the room was once more silent.

When Namie was sure that Izaya was no longer watching her, she looked down at the game board that sat on the coffee table between the two sofas in the office. Not a single game piece, Shogi, chess, checkers, or otherwise decorated the shining top of the new game board Izaya had purchased after an "unfortunate accident" involving his past board and matches.

It had been two months since Namie had seen a single piece on the board. Two months since that Kida Masaomi kid had left and Ikebukuro had finally calmed down.

Namie hadn't quite decided how she was going to exploit her employer's recent state or if she even would. But she knew that this might be her only chance.

Cautiously, as though any sudden movement of her eyes might once more attract Izaya's attention, Namie shifted her gaze from the empty game board to where the man sat at his desk. Izaya was slumped back in his chair, almost sinking a bit, as he stared vacantly at his computer screen.

Maybe it was the silence of Ikebukuro, or perhaps Izaya was finally beginning to realize how old he was, or it could even be that what Izaya's "beloved humans" had been saying about him was finally getting to him, but…

Namie frowned a bit to herself and began to thumb through the files she held once more.

It didn't take a genius, or even an information broker, to figure it out.

Orihara Izaya was lonely.

Hopefully chapter two will be up some time next week; I'm trying to keep my writing two chapters ahead of what I post, so here's to hoping!

Thank you guys so much for reading! :) If you would like to leave a review, that's awesome! and I will be SO EXCITED, if not, that's cool, too! (^o^)/ Anyhow, if I can keep to my schedule, I shall see you cool cats next week! Thanks again~!