who do you think you are?

"Of course I plant bugs in my apartments, I wouldn't want to miss anything now, would I?" Izaya stuck it back beneath the table.

"You needn't worry though, it's not for you," he shrugged a shoulder, "sometimes it's just better to have a record of discussions, business deals and the like. I can't remember everything straight away. I used to have more confrontations, when I was younger, hadn't quite established myself yet. It was easier to retaliate with evidence."

"Oh," he added, "I rarely access it unless I've need to. The recordings wipe each week, unless I save anything. And I've had no inclination to listen into whatever it is you've been... doing..."

"Then, why bother checking it right now?" Kumiko asked with furrowed brows. "Couldn't you have waited until you were aware of a business meeting that would have to take place here?"

Because, honestly, it was looking quite suspicious, in her opinion.

"And, what do you mean whatever I've been doing? I go out to get food, come home, eat, clean, and sleep - and occasionally reply to messages from you or forward messages from you to my father. But, if I was doing something more and realized you had a bug, I'd be pretty disgusted."

Izaya frowned.

"As I said, your mobile may have affected the frequency, I've still yet to hear regarding our current person of interest," he gave a shrug. "Should someone have broken in, this could have been the only source of information regarding who it could have been. Had the frequency been off, all I'd receive is static. And static isn't at all telling."

He made his way back to the door, "whatever you get up to in your free time is your own business, Miss Yuki, and I'm less than inclined to want to listen to you have sex."

"Maybe you should have started your explanation with that first bit instead of seeming a little creepy," Kumiko chimed out, but dropped the topic entirely as it seemed that he was leaving.

With a small shrug, she pushed off the wall and moved to sit back on the sofa. "Bye, then, Izaya. Have fun being more than a little creepy with your free time!"

Izaya didn't turn around, just raised a hand over his shoulder in a vague wave good bye.

"And you, Miss Yuki, have fun being the likely target of a mob war with your free time."

He left the apartment, keying to code to set the alarm system as he went.

Ah, right, there was that issue. Kumiko almost sighed at the reminder, but eventually dismissed it. She'd just go out even less often than she already was, she decided.

Anything to keep her safe and avoid problems, she'd probably do, she realized.

Izaya debated whether or not to continue looking into whoever had been asking about Kumiko, perhaps put it off for a few days, make her wait.

But perhaps that was too petty. Besides, he was curious as to how close the person had gotten. It took a couple of days, a few trades of information, and the chasing up on leads before he had a clearer picture of the situation.

He bought up an email to Kumiko and typed out the address of the apartment he was currently choosing to stay in, adding a short message at the end.

Sorry to spoil your fun, but all good things must come to an end.
Here @7 2nite.

Kumiko paused her shopping when she received and email and read over it silently. For a moment, she wondered if he was just going to be as odd as ever, but figured there wasn't a point in thinking over it.

She didn't reply. Instead, she bought what she had and went home.

And, when it came time to meet Izaya, she made her way there, only stopping when she arrived to knock on the door.

Izaya opened the door and stepped aside to let her in. He walked through the entrance hall and led her into the lounge, pushing the clutter the twins had left under the sofa with his foot before sitting down.

"Would you rather read the information, or be told it?" he asked Kumiko, tapping his laptop to wake the screen up.

Kumiko followed him quietly, though she soon moved to sit down on the sofa. Still, she did quirk a brow as she eyed the laptop. Eventually, she chewed on her lip.

"Ah, could you just tell it to me?" she asked. She was sure she'd get distracted too easily to be able to read it herself.

Or she might not understand it.

Izaya nodded, and bought up a couple of pictures onto the screen. Two up and coming gang leaders, uninspiring in their stereotypical gang wear and hair cuts.

"Short version," he said, leaning back on the sofa. "Two leaders of rival gangs. Allegedly the one on the left killed your mother, but I've yet to find proof outside of rumors. Regardless of whether it's true or not, it's shunted his status up fairly quickly. The one on in the right, on the other hand, has done no such thing. And it would appear he's currently under the impression that if he manages to get to you, his status will be launched higher, only child of Boss Yuki, managed to find her despite her being hidden, the standard things."

Izaya leaned forward to close the tab with the pictures on.

"The main issue is that this guy crawled out of the gutter pretty damn quick, there's almost no information regarding the state of his gang yet, but the speed in which he's gotten to where he currently is implies he may have more than two brain cells in that hideously bleached head of his. In the hypothetical situation in which he managed to capture, or kill you, I suppose it depends how eager he is, idiots would be swarming within seconds." He waved a hand. "Of course, that's the essential break down on it, there are far more mob politics behind it, but I doubt you'd be interested in the intricacies."

Kumiko listened to what he said silently as she stared at the pictures, though she could feel slight panic fill her pretty quickly. She found it hard to concentrate on Izaya's last couple of words and quickly moved to stand up, finding herself pacing as she chewed on her thumbnail.

"Does he know where I am, though? Or who I am?" she asked quickly, her eyes going to Izaya for a moment as she paused before she resumed her pacing. "If he has found me, what am I supoosed to do? Run? If he knows where I am, I can't hide and how do I know that he can't get past your security?"

Her panicking was leaving her in a state of endless questions but she wasn't even sure if she'd get any answers or if Izaya knew anything more than what he told her.

Izaya watched Kumiko pace for a few moments, mulling over her questions.

"His enquiries have been fairly local to the area," Izaya said thoughtfully. "Which could perhaps imply he has some idea of your whereabouts. As for who you are? Well... yes? That's the whole reaason he's after you, is it not? There are about half a dozen pictures of you circulating, from your teen years, I'd assume, so not a perfect match."

"If he has found you, then... well then I suppose that may explain why the fool hasn't come to me for information yet," he eyed the room, "Should he know where you are, if he's quick, brute force would be enough to get through security, they're only alarms after all. If he doesn't care about setting them off, and doesn't care for the cameras picking up his face, then the door would give with some brute force, I suspect. He could snatch you and leave before the relevant authorities responded to the call."

He looked back over at Kumiko, "ah, and before you ask, the camera is just outside the front door. I don't tend to set up my homes purely on the hope some young woman might take up residence."

Kumiko pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration as she listened to Izaya. "Great. That's just great. So, if he comes after me with enough intent, he can take me away and kill me or kill me right there on the spot and there wouldn't be anything to prevent it. Great," she grumbled out, having not paused in her pacing at all.

"If he knows who I am and where I am, what am I supposed to do? Just sit around and wait for him to come after me?" Because, despite what she knew of self defense, she also knew that she wasn't strong enough to hold somebody off for very long.

Izaya watched Kumiko continue to pace as she got more and more worked up, bringing his legs up onto the sofa to cross underneath himself.

Eventually she stopped for breath, ending with a question and Izaya couldn't quite tell whether Kumiko actually wanted an answer or not.

So he shrugged.

Kumiko turned her attention to glare at Izaya, her eyes narrowed. "Gee, what great protection you offer, Orihara," she drawled out before she scoffed lowly. Turning to the door, she huffed and debated on just leaving.

But what if the man was already there, waiting for her? What was she supposed to do?

"Maybe I should ask your dear Shizu-chan for help," she mentioned after a moment, "Somebody with that kind of strength could help resolve the problem pretty quickly, don't you think?"

"What would you have me do?" Izaya asked, dropping his head back against the sofa to watch her. "Ditch all my responsibilities? Trawl the streets and slice anyone who looks oddly at you to ribbons? Perhaps I should follow you round all day, never more than a few meters apart. I could offer you a more secure home than the one you were previously in, which is by no means worth the information trad- ah, wait, I think I've done that one..."

He put a finger to his lips, mock thoughtfully.

"Oh, the brute! Indeed, what a fine ally he would make, by all means, track him down, ask for help. See if he'll leave his job for a pitiful girl who can't think for herself." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Or are you trying for transparent bluff, Miss Yuki? Hoping to rile me to anger. It's hardly my fault this man is after you. In most deals, passing on those that ask after your father is more than payment for the quality of information you scrounged out. I don't care what you do, go back to your old place for all I care. But whether you're leaving or not, decide quickly. The twins will be back soon and I need to start dinner, and I'd like to know how much rice to put on."

"I don't care if you get angry, Mr. Orihara," Kumiko snapped, her face flushing with anger. "I don't care what you do, either. I'd rather be brutally murdered than have to listen to you for another moment."

It wasn't particularly true. She didn't want to die. But she didn't want to rely on Izaya any longer, either, or to have to deal with his insults.

So, she did what she could. She exited the apartment and even dared to slap the door behind her. She wasn't sure where she'd go but, if the man already knew where she was, she couldn't go back to Izaya's offered home.

Or maybe she just didn't want to go back there because it would probably satisfy Izaya too much.

Izaya watched her go, barely blinking as the door slammed.

Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure what the girl expected of him. But he shrugged it off as he got up to prepare dinner. Rice for three it was, then.

He'd give it a few days, the thought, enough time for her to move her things out of his home if she was so inclined, and then change the door codes to the apartment. It really wouldn't do to have someone else knowing them, after all.

Kumiko hadn't had to gather much out of the apartment - just the same bag of luggage that she came to Ikebukuro with. She had left the groceries in the fridge and cabinets, figuring that Izaya would either use them if he went there or they'd just spoil.

Part of her hoped they spoiled.

Regardless, she had gone ahead to return to her original home and had upgraded the locks with her father's permission. They probably wouldn't help much but they might slow somebody down enough for her to find something to fight back with.