Y'all are still here? Jk, I appreciate the fact that you guys are still willing to read after months in between chapters. Chapter 10 here we go.

For the next few months Namie continued making money from the gambling ring, it paid her more than she needed so she had come to considered it a job almost. Shinra never came by the biology club and Izaya was often getting chased by Shizuo after school, so Namie and Mikage ended up spending a lot of time together. Despite this fact, each girl carried a level of dislike for the other, therefore they only managed to become acquaintances at best.

It was now December, school was letting out at 1:30 instead of 3:00 due to all the final exams and winter break was next week. The school bell had ringed and Namie was making her way to the biology club room. It had been a stressful day and her period hadn't put her in the best of moods.

She walked in to see Mikage arguing with Nakura. He was a regular participant in the bets, but he was a sore loser whenever he lost some money.

"Please. Can't you guys give me a loan or something."

"No special treatment, No refunds, No givebacks. If you want your money back you have to win it." Mikage responded with a blank expression.

At this point the boy began to get mad.

"Just give it back you tomboyish bitch!"

Mikage threw one swift kick and had the boy clutching his arm while kneeling in the ground. He looked up at her with a glare that could kill.

"This isn't over!" He yelled

He then ran out the room, and in his haste, bumped into Namie and continued to scramble his way out the door.

"I see our old friend Nakura is back again."

Mikage rolled her eyes and took a seat at one of the desk.

"This is the third time this month he's asked for his money back. He's also gotten a lot bolder, I had to teach him a lesson so he could remember who he was talking to."

With a slight smile Namie set up her station and took out the names of the people who won last night's bet. Students then began to pour into the classroom to receive their reward money. Afterwards, Namie counted out a portion of the money and pocketed it, she then passed Mikage another portion of the money.

"Where is Izaya?" Namie questioned

"Wouldn't you like to know."

Times like these were the reason why Namie couldn't let go of the deep disdain she held for Mikage. She even admitted to herself that she would be indifferent towards her, if the girl didn't assume they were in some sort of competition for Izaya.

"I just want to give him his portion of the money."

Mikage got up from the desk and stretched. "I don't know where he is, earlier today he mentioned he wasn't going to be here."

The red-headed girl then packed up her belongings and left the biology room. Soon afterwards Namie gathered her things and locked the door behind her, but neither girl noticed the man standing just around the corner, watching them leave the room.

Namie made her way towards Russia Sushi, where Simon was standing outside advertising. He then spotted her as she approached the restaurant.

"Namie! You come for sushi, yes."

"Well, I'm not here for the coffee." She joked

And with that she walked in and saw Dennis working the kitchen as usual.

"I'll take the usual Dennis."

"Nice to finally see you again Namie. Your order will be ready, momentarily."

Namie looked around at the full tables as she waited for her order. A short while later Dennis brought her food out to her.

Namie gave him a thanks and made her way back to hospital, like she had so many times before. She walked into the main area to see Shizuo already checking out.

"You're out already?" She asked as she approached him.

"Yeah, my injuries weren't as severe, despite the fact a fire hydrant slammed me into a brick wall."

A look of skepticism flashed across Namie's face. "How could you escape that without getting hurt?"

Shizuo shrugged, grabbed his things, and began making his way towards the exit.

"I healed on my own, I guess. It's as if my body is getting stronger."

His eyes then strayed down to the box of food Namie was carrying.

"Is that for me?"

Shizuo instinctively reached down towards the box, but Namie pulled it away from him.

"No, this is my dinner. I told you not to expect my generosity. If I knew you'd be hospitalized this much, I wouldn't have brought you anything the first time."

Shizuo raised both his hands in mock surrender.

"Alright, I can understand that."

They walked out of the hospital and began making their way down the street.

"Where do you even go after you leave the hospital." Namie questioned

Shizuo took out a cigarette and blew a puff of smoke before responding.

"I usually go hang around Tom's apartment or just go home. I don't have much else t-"

"Heiwajima!"

Shizuo was cut off by a yell from a boy that was now standing in front of them. The boy held up a knife towards Shizuo, and Namie could see the anger that immediately replaced the calm expression on Shizuo's face.

Before anyone could make a move several other boys came out of the shadows of the alleyways and street corners.

"What the hell is this." Shizuo mumbled, more to himself then anybody.

"Bastard, you think you can get away with what you did!" The boy yelled.

Namie began to strategically back out of the circle that the gang of boys had made around Shizuo. She watched as her brunette haired friend slowly put out his cigarette and look back up at the leader of the group with an intimidating glare.

All of the boys were visibly shaken. For a moment it seemed as if they would retreat, until one of the members standing behind Shizuo ran towards him with a knife and all hell broke through. Shizuo immediately grabbed that boy's arm and twisted it behind his back, he then push that boy into two of his buddies. As soon as that was over two more boys came rushing at Shizuo and he knocked them out with a punch and a head-butt.

Namie watched from the sidelines as Shizuo took out each attacker with one bone-shattering punch. She didn't notice the one kid sneaking up behind her, she froze and dropped her bag of food when he held a knife to her neck and wrapped an arm around her stomach.

"Now if you don't struggle or scream we won't have any prob-"

Namie stomped on the boys foot before he could finish his sentence. His grip on the knife loosened and she then took her elbow and drove it back into the boys stomach. He crumpled to the ground in pain and Namie easily got away. When she look back towards Shizuo he had a circle of unconscious boys around him, she could even see that Shizuo had punched some of the boys so hard that they flew down the street.

"Bitch, you'll pay for this." Said Namie's attacker, who was still on the ground writhing in pain.

"Who were these guys?" Namie questioned, easily dismissing the threat made by the boy and casually picking up her bag of sushi.

Shizuo shrugged and placed his hands behind his head.

"Hell if I know, sometimes I randomly get attacked by assholes like these."

"And you never bothered to find out why?"

"Tch. I already know why. That flea keeps framing me for shit I didn't do, therefore small groups keep targeting me."

Namie didn't respond, she never really cared for Izaya and Shizuo rivalry. It was childish and petty and she didn't want anything to do with it. Those two may even resolve their problems throughout time, but until then their destructive feud would continue. Whether by Izaya jumping out of windows to get away from Shizuo, or Shizuo fighting small gangs sent by Izaya.

"You two are going to kill each other one day." Namie concluded

Shizuo stuffed his hand in his pockets and continued walking with Namie close behind him.

"Maybe, but I'm perfectly content with him staying out of my life."

"That's impossible he goes to the same school as you and lives in the same neighborhood. You can't really avoid him, trust me I've tried."

Shizuo shrugged off Namie's comment, leaving her to her own thoughts. They walked in silence for the next few minutes, until Shizuo slowed down to a stop. Namie didn't even realize he was no longer walking and lightly bumped into him. His back was facing her so she walked around him to take a look at his face, only to see that he was observing their environment .

With a sigh Namie backed away and folded her arms. "Careful Shizuo, think to hard and you'll hurt yourself."

When he didn't respond, she slightly nudged his shoulder to get his attention. He finally turned back towards her with a frown on his face.

"I feel like we're being followed...no, forget it, I'm just being paranoid."

Namie nodded her head in understanding. "You never know, could be some survivors from that group of boys that attacked you."

Shizuo hummed in agreement and abruptly turned around to continue walking, before Namie could follow Shizuo stopped her.

"Go home Namie, I'll see you later." he said as he waved his hand in farewell.

Namie stared at his retreating back with a blank expression before catching up and walking right by his side again.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"It's nothin' personal, I just don't want you to be with me if those boys return with friends."

"I can handle myself." Namie argued with a glare.

"I never said you couldn't."

"That's what it sounded like to me."

"That's not what I-"

Before shizuo could finish his sentence , Namie was already walking back the way they came. She wasn't really in a rush to go home, her brother was still at school anyway. Namie found herself walking the streets of Ikebukuro with no destination in mind.

She didn't really have anything to do. So she took a seat and absently watched the streets of Ikebukuro as people sauntered by. Her mind couldn't help but wander back to Shizuo. If there was one thing Namie hated more than anything, it was being considered weak. A slight mix of anger and disappointment was growing inside her and she didn't realize it until that moment.

"I'm being emotionally rash, I should've at least heard him out." She thought with a sigh

The welcoming doors of a public library caught the young girl's attention.

"Well, I do need to study for finals a bit more."

She strolled in to see that the place was full of students studying and stressing over textbooks and study guides. Namie sat in the last computer available, but continued to observe the chaos that surrounded her. Her peers frantically searched for answers in textbooks, wrote on themselves to turn their own bodies into cheat sheets, and some just gave up and made trouble for the librarian.

"How the hell am I supposed to understand this shit."

The familiar female voice came from beside her, Namie turned around to see...

"...Mikage?"

Mikage turned to see Namie staring back at her.

"Why am I not surprise, that you of all people are here." She deadpanned

Namie did not respond as the red-head girl turned her attention back to her work. In slight curiosity, Namie looked over the girl's shoulder to see chemistry problems on the paper.

With a sigh, Namie picked up her book bag took one last look around at the pandemonium in the small library.

'I'm better off at home.'

She turned to begin making her way out until she felt a small tug on her book bag. Mikage had grabbed onto it at the last second.

"Are you any good at chemistry?"

Namie stared at the girl in for a good second before responding.

"Do I look like a tutor? Figure it out yourself."

Mikage pinched the bridge of her nose before looking back at Namie in slight frustration.

"If I could figure it out, I wouldn't be asking for your help."

Namie looked at the time on her phone and then back at Mikage.

'Seiji is not home yet, no need for me to rush then.'

"What problems do you need help with?" Namie inquired as she reclaimed her seat.

"Most of them, but if you explain the last few to me I should be fine."

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It turned out that Mikage needed a lot more help than initially thought. Namie went over the rules for how to balance out chemical reactions several times, before the red-headed girl even mildly began to understand the concept of the lesson. The library had cleared long ago out and Namie began watching the time, it was nearing 3:45 and Seiji would be expecting her to be home soon.

"What's between you two anyway." Mikage suddenly inquired

"What do you mean?"

"You and Izaya...what's happening there."

"Nothing, he's a coworker at best." Namie scoffed

"It sure doesn't seem that way." Mikage mumbled under her breath, but loud enough for Namie to hear.

"Stop wasting your time on that bastard. He is poison to everyone around him, get away while you can."

Namie looked over to see that the girl had ignored her comment and continued to finish the work.

"Just check this last question for me and you can be on your way."

Namie quickly scanned the last problem and checked it off.

"If you can remember what I taught you, the final exam tomorrow shouldn't be to hard for you."

Namie eyed the clock and realized that 30 minutes had somehow slipped by. She hastily gathered her things and rushed out the library door without so much as a goodbye to Mikage.

The bus dropped her off in front of her neighborhood and she took a mild walk to get to her house, Seiji was unsurprisingly waiting for her in the living room.

"I'm starving where have you been." The small boy Inquired

"I got held up on the way home."

Namie reached into the Russia Sushi bag and handed Seiji one of the containers of food. When she reached back in to pull out a container for herself she realized the contents of said container had spilled inside of the bag.

She thought back to when that boy grabbed her from behind and she dropped the bag. Namie exhaled in frustration and Seiji stared at her with slight empathy.

"Would you like me to share mine with you."

"No I couldn't ask that of you, don't worry about me Seiji, there has to be something here to eat."

Namie sauntered over to the refrigerator and opened it to see that it was full of nothing but condiments."

'Can't even make a simple sandwich.' She thought to herself.

Their parent's absences have recently been occurring over longer periods of time. The last time Namie saw her mom and dad was two weeks ago, the money that was given to them was long spent, and the Yagiri siblings were currently living off of the money Namie made from the gambling ring.

The sound of her stomach whining brought her attention back to the empty refrigerator in front of her. She began rummaging through the pantry to see if she could find anything, that would make a decent snack. In the middle of her search there was a knock on the front door. The thought of answering it almost physically pained Namie, she considered ignoring it, that was until the knock came again and more aggressively.

She made her way to the door and opened it to see Shizuo with his usual bad-tempered expression on his face. Before Namie could even think to get a word out, he spoke first.

"I'm sorry."

His angry expression molded into one of guilt. Namie caught on to what Shizuo was referring to, if she was honest with herself, she had almost forgot about their short argument and wasn't even mad anymore.

"I didn't mean to call you weak...," he continued "...I just meant..."

The boys eyebrows furrowed, it seemed as if he couldn't find the right words to express what he meant to say. Namie sighed at this and stepped outside. She slowly took a seat on the steps of her front porch with Shizuo hesitantly following her lead.

She remained silent as he lit a cigarette and brought it to his lips.

"When I was a lot younger there was this woman who owned a small shop and she would give me and Kasuka bottles of milk when we walked by."

He paused to take another puff and quickly finished his story.

"She was being harassed one day and I lost control, and I ended up hurting her instead of helping."

Namie didn't turn to meet Shizuo's lingering stare, instead she stared straight ahead and breathed in the smoke he exhaled her way.

"I really hate the smell of cigarette smoke."

A chuckle escaped Shizuo as he gazed at the small cigarette between his fingers.

"The point was that a lot of people fear me, but I don't want you to."

Namie scoffed and turned away, "Me, fear you? I don't think so ."

The comment was rude and harshly said, but Shizuo saw it as sentimental. They simply sat in silence for the next few minutes. Until Namie spotted the black car she had been in so many times before, pull into the driveway across from her own. She immediately stood up pulling Shizuo up with her.

"I accept your apology, but I really think you should be going now." Namie explained as she ushered the boy off her porch.

Shizuo glanced back at her in slight confusion, Namie wanted to explain the situation, but Izaya was already staring in their direction.

"Shizuo!" He called from across the street, "It's been a while what have you been up to old friend."

Namie could already see the vain's beginning to pulse in Shizuo's fist and neck. She lightly placed her hand on his shoulder to grab his attention, but it was almost like she wasn't there. His attention was solely placed on her neighbor that was causally crossing the street with a smug grin on their face.

"Shizuo!"

Namie demanded his attention, but he still wouldn't give to her. So she forcibly turned his head towards her and looked directly into his eyes.

"He's not worth it, just go home."

Shizuo's eyebrows furrowed in understanding and as soon as Izaya stepped a foot onto Namie's driveway, the boy was already making his way back home.

"What? Leaving already?" Izaya called out to the receding back of the boy

"What are you doing here, I don't remember inviting an annoying pest to come onto my driveway."

Izaya was then standing in front of Namie with his hands up in fake surrender.

"And to think I just wanted to come by and check up on a neighbor. Besides what if I won't leave your driveway, what could you do to make me leave."

"I could always call the police." Namie explained as she showed him her phone in her hand.

The smirk on Izaya's face only grew. "That actually might be interesting, I've never actually tried evading the police before. Makes me wonder if I could get away with it."

"What kind of lunatic are you? And don't you have better things to be doing other than bothering me."

"You're right, I really do need to start taking these groceries to the car."

The sound of possible food reminded Namie of the hunger she was feeling at the moment, and it lead her to stopping Izaya as he turned away to walk back to his car.

"Wait, are you having a big dinner tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm making hot pot. I prefer not to cook but the twins have been complaining about too much take out."

Namie felt a little shame about having to ask Izaya to join in on his dinner, and wasn't sure if she could swallow enough pride to go through with it. Izaya spotted the contemplation on her face and could immediately read her like a book.

"Namie, would you like to have dinner with me?"

The smugness in his voice could be heard and it irritated the hell out of her. So she turned away and crossed her arms.

"Yes."

"Sure. All you have to do is ask me."

Namie visibly sighed and began tapping her foot.

"Can I have some of your dinner?"

Izaya shook his head. "No not like that, Repeat after me. 'Izaya, will you please have dinner with me.' "

Namie was now looking at the boy with the most intimidating glare she could muster.

"I'm not saying that."

The boy shrugged and turned to leave once again, but Namie grabbed a hold of his shirt sleeve.

"Izaya, will you please have dinner with me?"

He turned to completely face her and the smirk that was on his face was now a smile that almost seemed genuine.

"Sure, we're having hot pot..."

Namie was slightly surprised that asking was all it took to get him to say yes. Usually there was some catch or ulterior motive.

"...but you have to cook it."

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Namie sliced each meat and vegetable to appropriate sizes and placed them neatly next to each other. The water in the pot had finished boiling so she took the dried kelp out, turned the heat down to low, and added sake. Mairu and Kururi were both laid out on the couch watching a horror movie. They were unsurprisingly wearing the same pajamas in different colors. She fixed a small plate of meat and vegetables for both of them and called them over.

Mairu excitedly ran towards the table, while Kururi took her time making her way over. Namie handed both of them plates and began to make her own.

"Thanks, Namie-chan you're a lot nicer than our bastard of a brother." Mairu managed to say through a mouth full of food.

"We really appreciate this, it's been awhile since we've had a home cooked meal." Kururi shyly stated with a permanent blush on her face.

Namie didn't really pay attention to the twin's gratitude and began to wonder where the eldest Orihara had wondered off to.

Namie absentmindedly put down her plate and made her way upstairs. She wasn't really sure where his room was so she opened the door closest to her. It was a small room with pink wallpaper and a bunkbed, it obviously belonged to the twins. So she silently closed the door and made her way further down the hall.

The next room was definitely Izaya's. It was a plain looking room with blue wall, a small bed, a desk with a laptop, and a door that led to a closet. It was surprisingly neat, Namie couldn't figure out why, but she expected it to be a lot messier. The bed looked like it had never even been slept in. Namie had forgotten about finding Izaya and began snooping around the room. The closet was filled with dark clothing and hideous fur coats, the drawers contained socks and other miscellaneous clothing.

Namie was honestly disappointed she hadn't really spotted anything interesting in his room. She eventually got on the computer and the screen immediately turned on to show a chat room that had been recently logged out of. Namie minimized the page and looked at some some of the files saved onto the home screen. One particular file titled Ikebukuro caught Namie's attention. Although when she clicked on the icon, it immediately asked for a password.

"Looking for something?"

Namie turned to see Izaya at the door, she tried the hide heart attack his sudden appearance had given her, but the smirk on his face told her he'd already seen it.

"What are you doing in here?" he questioned

Namie had already exit out of the password box, but her mind was blank and she couldn't really think of a good excuse. So, she quickly fixed her composure and gained an air of confidence.

"Looking for you of course, dinner is ready."

"Well, my computer is a strange place for me to be hiding, isn't it?"

Namie dropped her defensive facade and casually approached Izaya.

"Well, you're a guy with one too many secrets, can you really blame a girl for trying."

Namie didn't notice how close she had gotten to Izaya, for a second neither of them said anything and simply gazed at each other. She stared into his auburn eyes and didn't seem to mind when he cupped her face and began to lean in closer.

"Namie-chan?"

Both teens quickly broke apart and stared at the smirking Mairu.

"Sorry Izaya, I came to check on Namie-chan, but by all means don't stop on my account."

Mairu skipped back down the stairs humming a happy tune with a smile on her face. Namie found that her heart was beating rapidly and she couldn't stop the blush that was quickly spreading onto her face. She couldn't bring herself to look at Izaya, so she didn't know whether or not he was staring at her and a moment of silence filled the room.

"I should be getting home."

Namie quickly rushed past Izaya, make her way down the stairs, wrapped up her plate of food, and both Izaya and Mairu watched Namie leave out the front door.

"Your girlfriend is really pretty Izaya, I think I have a crush on her."

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Namie walked straight past Seiji and went to her room, her brother called out to her in confusion, but it was as if his voice couldn't reach her at the moment. She got to her room and dropped face down onto her bed. Namie was beginning to feel sick to her stomach, she couldn't believe she even allowed the lunatic to get that close to her. Namie desperately wanted to fall asleep, but all of her thoughts kept going back to him.

Eventually, tired of trying to fall asleep,she got up to take a bath. The warm water relaxed her mind and the pit her stomach began to settle down.

'It was nothing, just a spur of the moment that's all.'

Namie laid back in the bath to relax and continued to think similar comforting thoughts.

'There's no way. I could never be foolish enough to actually fall for a bastard like him...'

Namie began to become even more drowsy, her vision became blurred and her eyelids began to shut and only one thought occurred to her before she drifted away.

'...Right?'

Thank you

xxHeadInTheStarsxx for following and reviewing