Additional Author's Notes: My aunt passed away not very long after the last chapter; it was very sudden, nothing any of us expected for she had been happily chatting away with us and sending us messages of how much she loved all of us before she passed in the middle of the night at a still lively age of 49. I had went to bed all happy and fluffy for I just had a nice and funny chat with her and my cousin (her daughter), and she just expressed how much she loved us both; then mentioning she was going to go shower and mop the house, she went to do her work whilst I went to bed. Needless to say, the following morning, it was an emotional blow to all of us, especially my cousin who has now lost both her parents in the span of several years. I'm very close with my aunt, uncle and my cousin, so I felt it almost as raw as her and there is much I have to do to help her get through this moment and the years to come…Updates will not be as often as I have hoped as now I have to and want to travel back and forth between my country and Japan, to keep in touch with my family there as often as possible. My grandma has also taken a mental blow by her death and her son's death several years earlier, and let's just say I have never seen my grandma so broken before.

Guys, always cherish those around you and tell them you love them whenever possible. You just never know what might happen, as was the case with my aunt. I regret never seeing her during my spring holidays for I did not return, making the last time I saw her 6 months earlier. It is something that I will hold in my heart for the rest of my days, and I swear never to make that mistake again.

Author's Notes: Was going through the old chapters and found several story development mistakes haha it doesn't affect the story in any way but it kinda bugs me…but too lazy to change it haha

And I'm going to slowly go back and update the old chapters as I fix their mistakes; I don't get why some words and at times, sentences, disappears completely in some of the chapters :( no such thing happened in my word doc version of the stories :S

Anyways, was trying to catch up with the novel a bit and wondering about how I should write Izaya's relationship with Kumiko and then I just suddenly felt very sympathetic towards that sociopathic sadist haha I have a feeling I am going to feel very terrible for him when I finally put Kumiko and Shizuo together, leaving him out of the loop. Izaya is always left out of the loop, isnt he? :( the poor thing *flickbladed*

~Fairyride~

"Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid."
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Nakura: That Heiwajima Shizuo guy is really going at it lately, isn't he?

Shin Senjyo: What do you mean?

Nakura: Haven't you been looking at what others are saying? Surely you must have come across the wreckage that he's causing in Ikebukuro recently.

Shin Senjyo: I haven't really been keeping up :S

Shin Senjyo: What's up with Shizuo?

Nakura: Apparently, he's been blowing up at everything and everyone. And sometimes for no apparent reason! Ikebukuro is really becoming a danger zone with people like him here…

Shin Senjyo: Really? But why?

Nakura: Who knows~? You should ask the man himself. He might answer you before beating you up~

Shin Senjyo: Hah, I think I'll pass…

Shin Senjyo: Anyways, I gotta go now. Talk to you later!

Nakura: Bye~

Shin Senjyo has logged off.

The gnawing of lips.

Something that Kumiko found herself doing more and more as each day passes, almost to the point of being as frequent as her stutters, which unfortunately, has started to return, much to her dismay.

She had honestly thought that her stutters were improving. But in light of recent events and her firmly believed notion that distancing herself from Shizuo and the others were to her best interest, the stutters which have plagued her and left in their wake has returned to their former host.

She refused to believe that the cure to her poor speech lay in communicating with people of such dangerous caliber. For if such was truly the case, she was pretty much screwed for the rest of her life, unless she chose to continue interacting with people that may or may not hospitalize her or get her in an abandoned warehouse somewhere every so often.

Maybe it was high time she saw a doctor for this…?

Kumiko frowned and snorted quietly to herself, the droning of the teacher buzzing in the background as the summer heat beat down on them through the window.

How long has it been since she last spoke or saw Shizuo? A week, was it?

It has only been two or three days max when she went out to eat sushi with Izaya, at the man's invite, much to her surprise and suspicion.

Kumiko's eyes loosened from its tightened hold, falling away to her natural innocent round as she stared out the window, gaze fixated on the pigeons circling the air around the school field.

She surprised herself, recently, with the suspicious thoughts she had of people.

Back then, she might have wondered and cursed people for their assumed lack of sincerity or whatnot, but it was never something that shaded the way she perceived others.

She might be gullible enough to trust in the whisperings of others and the rumors that flitted through the streets, but she never raised suspicions of her own will. Now, she was questioning Izaya's invite to dinner!

Though she supposed it was just that, an invite to dinner…it wasn't the first time he asked her to accompany him as he swiped down plates of his favorite fatty tuna whilst she poked at the egg rolls. Or maybe he had some ulterior motive in inviting her, which in that case, will most likely sooner or later end up in someone's demise or her own.

Her head fell forward and landed with a thunk on her desk, weighted down by these conflicting thoughts and emotions within her.

Kumiko did not feel that she will live a very long life, stress from her constant conflicting heart and mind chipping away at her years slowly but surely. She mused that she might live to see thirty, but the next ten years after that were doubtful.

Sometimes she wondered if she was better off staying and going to school nearby her hometown instead of all the way out here in Tokyo, where the city life and its residents were just threatening to swallow her up.

She had imagined shopping sprees (or window shopping in her case) and sweets galore with all the variety of exquisite little cake shops and maybe find a nice boyfriend to introduce to her parents if they got along…

She certainly did not expect to be caught in the wired maze of relations that was The Strongest of Ikebukuro, The Most Dangerous of Ikebukuro, The Black Rider, The Underground Doctor and even Dollars.

It never once crossed her mind that she would meet a real dullahan and to find out that the creature from myth is actually a really sweet lady. She never thought she would experience being treated by a doctor who isn't actually by the law book and for that same doctor to repel her previous perception that all underground doctors were dark and creepy. She did not imagine that she'd be taken by the yakuza and almost literally roasted alive in an abandoned building before being saved by the aforementioned Most Dangerous of Ikebukuro and then nearly invoking the wrath of The Strongest of Ikebukuro on her for that. She did not once thought she would be making confectioneries for that same Strongest of Ikebukuro in an attempt to get to know him only for that plan to backfire on her as her stupid little heart suddenly decided to beat rapidly in a cacophony of pitter-patters before his presence. And she surely never thought she would see a day where someone decided to enter her room through the window instead of the door.

It has been roughly about four months since she moved here to Tokyo, and Kumiko has experienced much more than she would ever experience in years of living in her hometown.

Her emotions, heart and body have been pushed to their limits in many of her experiences her, and frankly, she was scared shitless more than half of the time.

But can she truly say she regretted coming here and getting to know all these wonderful people that her simple mind could only previously imagine?

She could never say a truthful "No," of that she was certain.

She was glad she was given the chance to get to know these people, whether good or bad. It gave her a taste of the extraordinary that she so longed for.

And she surely did not have enough of it.

And yet, a part of her (unsurprisingly) did not want the extraordinary anymore. It wanted to return to the simple normalcy she once lived in.

It longed for the safety and certainty of that life.

But the other part...

The other part still wished to bask in presence of the one with hair of sunlight.

It wanted to taste the exhilaration the red-eyed one brought with him.

It wanted to continue feeling the comforting wash of dark wisps of shadows around her.

It wanted to see the silly cackles of the glassed one.

And she certainly wanted to continue babysitting those devilish twins.

And it was at the same twins home she now found herself in, having taken quite a while off work due to her recent activities, much to the disappointment of Mama Orihara. But the lady was still kind enough to continue offering her the job, since she was the only one who managed to keep it so long.

Mairu stood before her, a cutting blade in hand with its metal glinting ominously underneath the room light. And it was pointed straight at her.

Despite the differences in height, Kumiko still felt awfully intimidated with the way Mairu trained her gaze on her humble form, a wicked grin pulled across her girly lips.

"Kumiko-chan~!" The younger girl sang out, "Where have you been for so long?"

Kururi merely sat at her desk and watched, not even bothering to lift a finger to aid the elder girl.

"W-Well…"

"Did you not want to look after us anymore?" A threatening thrust of the cutting blade in her direction.

"N-No! Of c-course n-not…" A nervous laugh.

"Well, then what was it? We had to deal with our mother during the afternoon for so long because you were gone!"

"She…made us…clean our…clothes…" Kururi mumbled quietly.

"I'm s-sorry you had to c-clean your c-clothes?" It was high time they learned how to do house chores, in her opinion.

"It was horrible!" Mairu wailed, though the apparent glee on her face contradicted her supposed horror of having to do the laundry. She jabbed the cutting blade in her direction once more. "Why did you not babysit us?!"

It was at this moment Kumiko decided that the distance between the blade and her chest were too short for her liking and she pulled out the Hanejima Yuuhei badges she had in her pockets and showed them to her.

Instantly, the blade was gone and she squealed in delight as the badges were snatched from her hands. Kururi got up from her seat at the sight of the badges, blank eyes and lips quickly brightening with something only fervent fans of a particular artist would understand.

Kumiko quietly took a seat on another empty chair in their bedroom, watching with a small smile as the two girls fawned over the young artist.

Hanejima Yuuhei…

Kumiko wondered what sort of person he was. Did he have an explosive temper like Shizuo? Did he possess inhuman strength like Shizuo?

Kumiko groaned to herself, realizing her thoughts were once again drifting towards the golden haired man, as it had a tendency to do as of late.

Dropping her head into her right hand, her gaze remained on the twins but her thoughts went back to Shizuo as her conscious thoughts faded into a dream.

Shizuo never talked to her about his brother. What did she really know about Shizuo? What did Shizuo know about her besides the fact that she was a weakling?

Nothing.

She sighed.

She could see nothing ever happening between her and Shizuo.

Everything is against them; from their age, to their personalities, to the life they lead…

Damn her traitorous heart. She's acting like a schoolgirl with a crush…which she is, actually.

God, fuck.

She had to nip this feeling within her in the bud before it got out of hand.

She was no stranger to crushes. The last crush she had lasted for three years, back when she was in middle school. She never confessed to the boy, and never talked to him either outside of the occasional group works and coincidental meetings.

She finally managed to forget about him when they went to separate high schools.

And Kumiko would rather not spend another three years pining after a guy who was out of her reach.

In the corner of her mind, the smart part of Kumiko scolded the girl, that the way she was acting did not seem like a young woman who had recently been kidnapped. That she should be thinking more about that instead of the twenty-five year old bodyguard.

Priorities, curse it all.

She hadn't notice the silence in the room and the way the twins were looking at her, slumped over in their study chair with a forlorn gaze etched into her clouded eyes. She did not see the way Kururi tilted her head before Mairu lifted an eraser and slung the stationery in her direction, the little square of white smacking her right in the middle of her forehead.

"Agh!"

She frowned at Mairu, but the girl merely twisted her nose at her as if she smelled, features scrunching up as placed arrogant hands on her hips.

"Kumiko-chan, you're more dumb than usual today~" The young girl sang, eyes squinting at her suspiciously from behind her pink rimmed glasses. Her twin nodded in agreement quietly.

Picking up the eraser from where it had fallen to the floor, Kumiko sighed dejectedly, tossing the eraser back at them. Great, even the devil twins could see she was off.

"I'm just s-stressed…," Which is true.

Mairu shot her a look that said that her answer was not enough. Her hand shot out to grab the forgotten cutting blade and lifted it up as a threatening weapon once more. Beside her, Kururi played with the Hanejima Yuuhei badges, rubbing soft fingers over the actor's face but her empty stare remained on Kumiko.

Running her hand across her face, Kumiko shook her head and mustered a smile as best she could. Never let personal problems get in the way of work.

"Y-You two should get onto your h-homework…" she said, earning her groans of dismay.

Kumiko's job was much easier now since the twins actually started to listen to her ever so often now compared to when she first started babysitting them. Perhaps it was due to the routine of her purchasing them merchandise and bringing gifts for them whenever they behaved?

She will never know how the Orihara family worked.

When their mother returned, Kumiko received her pay and left the household with as much glamour as a fly. The twins who watched her leave from the doorway to their kitchen both had curious shines within their young eyes, brows furrowed in suspicion and wondering.

The twins were not dense. They inherited the same sharpness their elder brother had.

"Kumiko-chan was really strange today, right Kururi?" Mairu sang, whilst sucking away explicitly on a lollipop.

Besides her, Kururi bobbed her head softly, eyes quietly shifting to Mairu's.

Their eyes met, and a silent message was exchanged between them.

We really want to find out, don't we?

Kumiko followed along with the waves of people pushing and pulling along the streets of Ikebukuro, not really caring where her feet brought her.

She honestly did not feel much like returning home today, something which she usually did right after school and babysitting.

It's not like she had anyone waiting for her there.

And she didn't have much friends here in Ikebukuro who she could call upon to hang out with.

In her heart, she really missed her hometown and Aya. She wanted to see her parents and see how they were doing.

But it was still a ways till the holidays arrived, and she was just going to have to suck it up.

She passed by a loud group of people hanging around a van, eyes peering curiously at them.

Three men and a woman dressed in black were gathered together, laughing and chatting away in their tight circle. The woman and the man with blonde hair were holding up mangas of some sort, furiously discussing the contents whilst the other two rolled their eyes and griped at them.

The blonde haired man's hair reminded her of Shizuo's hair, but they could not be compared to Shizuo's hair of sunlight.

Eyes widening, Kumiko quickly looked away and shuffled in another direction as fast as her feet could carry her.

She was thinking about Shizuo again.

A sigh rolled its way out of her. This will not do.

Deciding to enter a café and clear her mind with a nice cup of tea, Kumiko randomly entered one and took a seat by the window. Ordering apple tea and a slice of cake, she looked through the Dollar message board with her phone as she awaited her orders to arrive.

The group was as mundane and lively as usual. People chatted fervently when hot topics came up and boring topics died away instantly. The forum pulsed with life and death of countless invisible members, each with their own contributions to the daily routine of life, each of their invisible actions putting into motion consequences invisible to them.

She briefly wondered if they were as invisible as her in a world like this.

Did her life and decisions she made ever resulted in anything?

Kumiko briefly let that piece of thought swirl around in her mind, a sense of feeling utterly small engaging her heart.

It never occurred to her that her interactions with Shizuo and Izaya had resulted and will result in so many more things in the future, that it had already resulted in many yakuza members being captured by the police. These members are then no longer able to continue circulating their quota of drugs that will contaminate many youngsters, their quota of guns that will take the life of others, and their quota of young girls who will be taken away from their family.

She never realized the ripples through society her mundane and silly interactions with Shizuo and Izaya had.

Outside, a tiny bird flapped its way up to the window sill, dropping down to rest its wings. Its tiny head tilted as it seemingly stared at Kumiko through the glass. The senior girl smiled at the cuteness of the avian, finger reaching out to brush against its form on the decorated window.

With a sudden tap of her fingers against the glass, she sent the bird flying away again in surprise, and Kumiko watched it flap quickly away with jealousy.

She wished she was a bird, able to fly away as she wished and able to conjure such feelings of yearning and inspirations in others.

Her orders arrived, and she tucked her phone away, the Dollar forums disappearing into a screen of black.

As she munched away innocently at her cake and sipped her tea, elsewhere in the deep underground of the city, figures were moving. Figures that she had never met before but had clearly brushed with.

Figures who wished to enact revenge upon Orihara Izaya and Heiwajima Shizuo for their treachery, and if they were lucky, they would get the Headless Rider alongside those two.

But above all, their main target and priority was the man who pulled all the players into the board: Orihara Izaya.

And Kumiko, Shizuo, Celty, Shinra, Mairu and Kururi…no one suspected anything except for Orihara Izaya.

And said man, was now sitting in his office chair, sharp and handsome features casted in shadows as he contemplated his course of actions.

The special board he used for his game with Shizuo and babysitter-chan laid beside him on the desk, now in a standstill.

A troubled grin pulled across his thin lips and his eyes narrowed in anticipation and annoyance.

"Ahh, I might have dug the grave for Shizu-chan and babysitter-chan too deep…it might be big enough for me too!" He laughed almost crazily to himself, swirling his chair in circles.

Namie who was ignored by him, sat in the couch at the corner of the room, equally ignoring her employer. She actually kinda hoped that the grave he dug will fit him in too.

Unaware of the musings of his employee, Izaya stopped his chair mid-turn and rested his hands on his desk and stared at the special board game for two, namely Shizuo and Kumiko, of course.

"What to do, what to do…"

He had expected the yakuza to strike back, but he did not expect them to move so soon. Kuroha was more angry over his lost appendage more than he had anticipated. He really hated and loved these criminals.

He could always conjure a way to pin it on Shizu-chan, but it will not really result in much of a result for it had never worked before.

He poked at the piece representing the babysitter on the board, mind churning up ploys and schemes he could use to his advantage.

Moments passed during where the light of the sun vanished over the horizon, curtaining his office in inky black. He heard the shift of Namie as she got up to turn on the lights.

He paid no heed to the sudden flash of white that cut through the darkness of his office, eyes hardly flinching at the sudden intrusion of brightness.

Orihara Izaya is a God.

A God who sees all and knows all.

And he will hardly let several yakuzas who failed in their mission to impede his Crusade.

Flipping open his phone, Izaya proceeded to contact a Dollar member he was increasingly getting familiar with, eyes dancing as it alighted upon the handle name, fingers flitting across the buttons to start up an all but innocent chat with the member.

Shin Senjyo.

Nakura: Hey, how are you?

With the press of a button, the electrical message and signal was sent, travelling across wires and distances to its intended destination and recipient, who still sat at the random café on a random street within the mass that was Ikebukuro.

Kumiko jerked from her daydream and stared at the phone in her hand, a notification banner sliding down from the top of the screen, covering her Twitter page partly with its message.

You have a new message.

Clicking on the banner, she was brought to the Dollars application that members can download off the link provided in the forums. Usage of the application required a Dollars handle name and password, so non-members who never received the invite would not be able to use the application even if they downloaded it.

She opened up the chat room once she saw that it was from Nakura, finding it enjoyable to chat with this faceless character. He had a lot of interesting things and thoughts to say, and the fact that it was all online made it easier for Kumiko to communicate with him on a level that she would have found difficult physically.

Shin Senjyo: I'm fine, I guess. Could be better. You?

It wasn't long before his reply came, and their chat quickly progressed.

Nakura: Same here. Could be better. What's troubling you?

Shin Senjyo: It won't be anything that will interest you lol girl problems.

Nakura: You will never know till you try~ I might surprise you (*w*)

Pursing her lips, Kumiko took a bit of time to word her sentences.

Shin Senjyo: Well, there's this guy…

Nakura: I knew it~!

Shin Senjyo: haha I told you it wouldn't interest you.

Nakura: Never said such a thing~ Continue please~~

Shin Senjyo: Fine, fine.

She chatted with him about her feelings for Shizuo, although she did not mention that it was Shizuo. Last thing she wanted was for him to block her because she was associating with who is known as a terrible monster.

But the thing is, she does not think that way about Shizuo.

Even Izaya, whom many calls dangerous and best to not associate with! No matter the times he put a blade against her neck and confused her with his antics, he never once hurt her before. Hell, he was the reason she's even here safe and sound right now. If not for him, she might have still been in yakuza imprisonment.

But she will never put voice to these thoughts, not to someone she met online. Her list of friends were limited as it is.

Nakura: Hmmm~ I think you should try to find out how he feels about you.

Shin Senjyo: Really? I mean, it's hardly appropriate…

Nakura: All's fair in love~

Shin Senjyo: I don't know…I'll think about it.

Nakura: Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here~

Shin Senjyo: Www(1) thanks!

Shin Senjyo: I'm glad I know you :)

Nakura: Don't mention it ;)

And Izaya grinned.

(1)www: an expression of laughter in Japanese chats.

Lol Kumiko's treasure balls xD Annnd, I really want to think of a ship name for KumikoXShizuo and KumikoXIzaya. Ideas anyone? I can't seem to think of a good one…Gawd, I'm horrible with names.

And I figured with all the tech savvy people, having a Dollars member only application would'nt be so hard to imagine XD

Catching up on the novels, I have discovered a part of Izaya I very much want to put into play in the story later on, and it will be the main trigger of his 'feelings' for babysitter-chan XD

Read and Review, not Read and Run! :) What do you guys think will happen? What do you guys want to happen? Let me hear your thoughts! Hurrr

Review Response Time!

Seere Klein- haha sorry about that, it is a bit slow in emerging XD I wrote this story with the intention of taking time in developing each character's feelings haha and the story will not work unless I develop Shizuo and Kumiko first XD Thanks for the review!

Bloody Kirai- Thanks for your review! And your update is now delivered haha

QRed- haha their relationship now is hardly good XD it's so unhealthy with nothing but lies from Izaya manipulating her haha thanks for the review!

Aviantei- thank you for your review once again! And for picking out my errors; I'm slowly going back and correcting the errors in all the previous chapters haha And I am slowly cooking up something now XD

Fan- thank you for your review and support haha it is REALLY appreciated!

RandomCitizen- thanks for your review and input on the twins stuffs! And your idea has been noted :3 It has a chance of being used if the current idea I have flops hahaha XD

XxCupcakeAssassinxX- thank you for the review! And I am glad you are excited for Kumiko and Izaya's part of the story haha This story is mainly dominated by Shizuo fans but there are Izaya fans out there, and I hope I can convert a bit of love from Shizuo to Izaya too hahah

MsWildLuck- thank you for your review! Haha I hope I don't disappoint your expectations :S