And here is my forth and final story. Unless I delete one of my others. I will only have four stories running at a time, need something to bounce between you know.

So, this story starts two years before the main story, but will catch up a LOT quicker than my Code Geass story, which I hear a lot of reviews about 'Where are the main characters', well, it's four years too soon for them 'just' yet... but we'll get there... all good things come to those that wait. I have no shortage of ideas for any of my stories.

Anyway, this here was my Tokyo Ghoul inspired story, because I wondered what it'd be like for a human to enter the ghoul world willingly. And Lipochrome can create very coppery looking eyes, making amber, or in some cases redder or golden hues. So, I took someone from our world, who knows without bias, that humans are just as evil as ghouls. Someone who can see the world for what it is. And I think that's why a lot of people who make OC characters in this series make them. To point that out. I just felt like having my own crack at it is all.

So I hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Ghoul, if I did, I'd have slapped the anime makers until my hands bled.


Lipochrome, the bane of her existence. Every day she found her notes stolen, her locker covered with graffiti, or whatever other nasty deed her classmates desired to entertain themselves with, and for what, her eyes. The source of all her bullying, her stunning amber eyes, golden in the right light, but copper-red when the light was less favourable. Which was almost any time it wasn't the few golden moments.

Normally, her eyes wouldn't be an issue, in any other situation, in any other world, they'd be attractive, a feature that combined with her raven long hair would make her quite the source for admirers. But for all the worlds she was reborn within, for all the countries, the nations, worlds upon worlds that existed, she was here, in Tokyo. In a world infested with ghouls.

Kin Kaminochi lived two lives, in her dreams she remembered the past, her life shunned by family and discarded when possible. In her past life she was used to vivid dreams, dreams she'd lose herself in, dreams where she'd wake up and cry out for people who never existed. But these were worse, because she'd cry out for people who had existed. Once. But no more. She wasn't with them any more, and every day she had to act human, had to act like the loving daughter of two loving parents, even when the notion of such a concept scared her.

Because the alternative, the alternative was death, the end of her life as she knew it. Her parents always knew she was troubled, their child, as she grew up, Kin was silent as a baby, her first words spoken in her sleep at the age of three, they never questioned why it was in english. Her anti-social behaviour had them worried, and many times they questioned professionals, but Kin was older than she looked, underestimated, she knew that. She knew in that room, in any room, with a psychologist, she was an open book. But she also knew they didn't know what page to start on. And she used that, and got clever, she figured out how to hide her differences. She learnt how to pretend to be Kin Kaminochi.

And so Kin Kaminochi went to high school like every other teenager, and like every other teenager they faced their troubles daily, whereas some struggled with puberty, and others struggled with being liked, others struggled with bullying or sports, she struggled, in some way much like the rest. Learning to be herself. But unlike the others, she struggled with her very existence. To separate her memories, and accept that she now lived in a world where monsters had more than one species.

But unlike other girls at her school, the topic of ghouls never scared her, never frightened or worried her, and that was how they bullies came to target her. Kiyomi High School pet Ghoul Hybrid, that's what they called her anyway, because of her insensitivity to the ghoulish topics, and her near red iris. But she wasn't a ghoul, even investigators had been called in to check before, making her term of her first year all the more hellish, she was human. Perhaps the only human, surrounded by ghouls, monsters that fed on her suffering.

It was winter in her first year of high school when she made her first friend, her only friend, and she found them in the most unpredictable of ways. Christmas was coming up, and while her family weren't particularly religious, they also didn't pass on the excuse to spoil one another, and Kin didn't pass on the opportunity to get out of the house and be herself. Having headed to the shops after school, careful to avoid bullies, she moseyed the time away from store to store, occasionally buying a treat for her new relatives as eventually it came to snow and the sun began to set.

All across Tokyo, people would begin to hurry home, night was typically the time for predators anywhere in the world, and the urban city was no exception. As humans and ghouls alike looked for fresh meat. But in the twentieth ward, the people felt safer, and they stayed out later, and Kin, safe or not, felt no desire to return to the house of her second parents. No desire to flee from the cold chill, or the gentle flakes that fell from above. Her eyes positively glowing amber in the streetlights, getting many a strange look.

But she ignored them all, for the city never slept and swept away in her freedom, she never wished to either, the cold be damned as she laughed with her own enjoyment. The skip in her step however causing her to bump into an all too familiar figure, almost falling backwards onto her own behind as she looked up towards the towering bully, the girl that had made her last few years, from school to school, hell. And she had done the one thing you must never do in front of your bully, show that you can still smile.

"Huh, little half breed here looks a little too happy girls, and like she's forgotten her place, even attacking me. You saw that right?" She sneered, looking from the girl flanking her right, to the one on her left, each of them wearing identical smirks as they watched her in action. "Gotta teach ghouls like you to mind your betters, or next you know, you'll be off eating people. Or are you out here at this time for a different piece of flesh? I always did wonder how your family had such money."

Normally Kin kept her mask up, normally she was meek, mild and courteous, even in the face of bullies. Bullies were nothing new, from one world to the next, she had dealt with them for more years than she had fingers and toes, but tonight, she felt free. Free from the charade, free from the weight of being the politician's perfect daughter, free of the prying eyes of her concerned mother. The sky was clear above her, and the stars shed their light down upon her, and by their many eyes as her witness, she took that as a sign. Kin could be strong too. She'd make her strong. But the forgotten stars and the many gods who dwelled above, she'd make her strong enough to resist such petty carnivores.

"At least I don't need to offer up a threesome just to be convincing enough to interest people. Besides, you're right, I have forgotten my place, if I'm half ghoul, then I'm above you in the food chain. So back the fuck off." Her amber eyes glowing in the light, the only intimidating feature as the copper colour of blood seemed to radiate her fury, the fury of a young lean sixteen year old girl, who had never once raised her fist in this new life.

But it had the desired effect, it caused the three to stop, the remark unexpected and unanticipated. But the desired effect quickly turned into the worst case scenario as a fist impacted against her face and bloodied her lip, and that really did knock her on her arse. She scrambled to pick herself up, watching the three girls advance, she could be strong, she could fight, she knew she wanted to, but the stars above faded, the clouds once more drew in. And she felt the sign to run, knowing she'd have no more luck facing those three tonight.

Kin ran, bullies hot on her heels, as she twisted and turned down main streets, through shops and back alleys, she'd stood up to her bullies, and they were out for blood. But again, she had more years experience than all of them combined in dealing with such matters, and with it, came the knowledge of how to escape. A simple moment of blindness where she lost them in the shop as she exited out the back having led them to the front again, and into the alleyways which went too many directions at once. Kin picked one and ran, chosen for being the darkest, for being the most concealed, and the corners blocked off lines of sight.

Funny thing was, that's what her new friend chose it for too, as she stumbled as fast as she could around the corner and upon two ghouls mid meal. The corpse of some street worker torn into, her clothes torn and bloodied as two figures hunched over the prone form, eating while it was warm and fresh as the snow mixed with red. Kin could have screamed, or ran, or thrown up if she was a weaker soul, but she couldn't help but stand there and stare at the primal scene before her. She knew screaming wouldn't help, running would only cause them to chase her. And the affair of life and death didn't truly concern the once dead girl like it might have done, as she simply chose the more unexpected choice of taking a seat.

She placed herself up on some stacked boxes, she knew the two ghouls had noticed her, they'd paused in their eating, but hadn't turned to face her just yet. They weren't going to kill her just yet, she hoped, animals were always more ferocious in such situations when their guard was down, Kin merely hoped her assumptions that ghouls were more than that, more than the propaganda was true. She wasn't going to hold the murder against them, hell, she didn't even know if they murdered the poor woman in the first place, but who was she to judge another creature for its very nature.

So, she merely watched, it was like a live documentary, wolves tearing into a dear, the chewing and snapping, and slurping and gnawing. She noticed how the two seems to split it as evenly as possible, but the richer organs, like the heart, the larger one gave to the smaller one, showing a level of care between the two as eventually the corpse was cleaned, the two slowly filled themselves and only little bits of flesh here and there remained on the poor woman.

"Now then, who the fuck are you?" A female voice spoke up, one of the ghouls before her, she stood from the remains with her coat covered in blood, but for all the mess made it seemed not one spec appeared on the woman's clothes beneath. Merely her face and hands glistening with wet crimson as black and red eyes glared across at the human who dared interrupt their meal. And Kin had no idea how to remedy the situation, no clue how to get out alive. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to, to go back to hiding behind a mask, acting through life, maybe becoming part of the food cycle would be for the best.

Kin didn't stand, she didn't move, she didn't make any attempt to leave except the small respectful bow of her head. An apology for interrupting their meal. "I'm Kin, and, I'm not really sure what else I can tell you, or what else you'd like to know? I go to Kiyomi High School, I'm sixteen. My mother isn't really anyone, I mean, she works in catering, but my father's a politician for the city management." Kin couldn't really stop herself from rambling facts about herself, or at least this form, this body.

Fear was suddenly making an appearance to the poor girl who tried to keep calm, a bloody finger pressed to her lips as the woman shushed her. Leaving a drip of blood to run down her chin. Kin moved her tongue to quickly lap it up before it reached too far, before it could fall from her chin when the finger was removed. The young woman, older than her simply watched, seeming to stare into her eyes. "What are you?" That question threw her a bit, Kin didn't really know what the correct answer was once more. Barely noticing the girl her own age step closer, having stood from the remains and watched from afar.

"Well, I, um... I'm alive? Human, not that it matters really. Just a student. Another face in the masses I suppose?" Kin's voice shook this time, unable to fully dampen her fear, the fear of answering wrongly to questions she wasn't entirely sure she understood. So she released a shaky sigh, and looked up at the woman, to meet her eyes. Not once flinching at the sight of the active kakugan, the black and red eyes of her natural predator.

"A face in the masses that watched as me and my sister ripped into the body of a dead whore and devoured her in front of you without you making a sound, you even stepped closer, stepped over to watch. What are you, with eyes like that?" The woman stepped closer, taking a better look at Kin who remained seated, unblinking as she offered her eyes up for inspection. A bloody hand placed on her chin to tilt her head from side to side as she inspected the human's face.

"Lipochrome, makes them appear gold, or more commonly a reddish colour, I was born-" Cut off with another bloody finger pressed to her lips, the red life force congealing and sticking to her as the woman simply shushed her like talking to an infant. The younger of the two, only a few inches shorter stepped closer, eyes black and crimson to also take a better look. The two fascinated by her eyes.

"No. Not the colour, although with ink jets you'd look quite ghoulish. The shape of them, the curvature, they look sad, no. Not sad. Dead. As if you're just going through the motions, waiting to die. I know that look, I saw that look. You're not scared of us are you? If you die here, you die, isn't that right?" The woman questioned, finally letting go of her chin, stepping back to observe the girl in her full uniform. Her bags of christmas shopping by her feet, Kin leaned down to reach into one of them to pull out a fine looking scarf, wrapping it around the younger of the two ghouls as she had stepped closer curious.

Kin then reached up, smearing the blood on her chin with her fingers, wiping it off before licking her fingers clean, not concerned about its origin. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I'm no stranger to death, in fact, I think me and them are partners by now, or at least friends. But this life I'm in, it doesn't matter, school picks on me, calling me their half ghoul hybrid due to my eyes. My mother does nothing but argue over my grades and how I should do better, and my father needs his model daughter for his campaign, he can't run for mayor without me being picture perfect. You ghouls have to learn to be human, we're not too dissimilar you and I. I have to learn to be Kin Kaminochi every god damned day, with no reprieve, no respite. Ever. So, kill me, be on your way, it's really up to you. Otherwise I guess I'll just head home and keep up the act."

The younger of the two ghouls spoke up, wiping her bloody face on her sleeve to keep her nice new scarf clean. "What do you mean friends with death? Did he save your life?" Her words innocent and soft, and despite the gore Kin had just witnessed, and the apparent appearance of being roughly the same age, she sounded younger, more innocent, purer in a sense with her intentions.

"No, I mean I died. I died in another world, parallel to this one I think. Gods above know I have no degrees in such. But perhaps some god out there, some star watched over me as I died, and then here I am, sixteen years later, acting out the perfect daughter to two strangers who just want some puppet, some picture perfect family to make some collection to win elections and the like. And honestly, I wish I stayed dead at this rate. So, the monstrosities I've seen in these other worlds, where people kill people for greed, money, desire, lust, ghouls don't hold a candle to them. I won't ever fear your kind. If you want to eat me. Eat me." Kin finally concluded her speech, standing up. She was getting tired, and cold, and the stars were once more out in force and while a good omen, she didn't want to push her luck.

"Stay." The elder of the ghouls stated, stopping her in her tracks as she was mid turning away back the way she came. "Stay. My name's Yuno, this here is my little sister Yui, and I want to make you an offer dead girl. You can go back right now, I know you won't say a word about us, because I see it in your eyes, the same eyes my mother had when the CCG tortured her as we hid. Determined eyes, trustworthy. But, honestly, I hate calling you dead girl, I hate your eyes right now, so, I'm gonna make a one time offer, just once, if you decline and I see you again, you're on the menu like everyone else. But, if you want, Kin can die tonight as well, poor perfect Kin, the perfect daughter, perfect student. She can die. And you can join us instead. Your choice?"

To say Kin was shocked was an understatement, frozen as she merely looked from Yuno to Yui, looking for any reason they'd want her to come with. It's not like she feared death, or feared them for that matter, she knew she probably should, like how one fears a lion when they visit the zoo. But they weren't lions, they were people. And people 'could' be trusted, they could be the answer, to break the monotony of her life, to stop pretending to be who she's not, to stop trying to be Kin, the golden girl.

"Look, can we hurry this up, if it's a no, then please shove off, if it's a yes, we got work to do." Already taking the answer as a no, the woman in the bloody overcoat began to shed it and move on, but Yui, she merely kept watching, watching the human girl with interest as it was clear to her the girl hadn't come to a conclusion, hadn't close to come to a conclusion yet.

"Wait! No, I'll do it. I'll die. I'll die please, please kill me and let me come with you. You're right, I'm sick of being this shell, I don't know what'll wait for me in the ghoul world, I don't know how long I'll live, or what, but I'm tired, just so tired of being the walking dead. So kill me, and let me live. Please?" Yuno paused for a second, fastening up her larger coat, before looking back to Kin before her, assessing her plea, its validity, it's sincerity. Before she felt a small tug on her sleeve, Yui, who simply nodded. And that was all the reassurance she needed.

"Right, look, you're a big girl an' all, but this is going to get messy, and painful... If we're staging your death, they're going to need to be blood at the scene of the crime. So get your arse over here, those presents? Drop them in the blood like you panicked and tried to run. Come on, closer, I don't bite." Her patience running short as the girl fumbled over to the bloody corpse and tossed her bags at it, the blood oozing into the christmas gifts for family she didn't really know, or care. Nor cared for her. And then she felt it, an agonising pain in her neck.

Yuno had grabbed her as she was distracted looking at the presents, and tore a bite out of her neck, practically grinning at Kin as she let the blood flow onto the girls jacket as she swallowed the bite. "I lied, I do bite, and damn you are tasty, like shit, what the hell is in you to make you so good?" Of course she never got an answer, because Yui wasn't one to be left out, biting deep into her wrist of her left hand, causing blood to flow down her jeans as she quickly raised her hand to her chest, starting to panic, the pain excruciating as her neck throbbed. Pieces of her were missing, literal chunks of flesh torn away, she wasn't scared of the girls before her, she never once moved away. But it was clear she was going into shock, clear the blood loss was starting to take its toll.

Yuno spoke, more calming than she'd heard her before as she tried to steady the woozy woman before her. "Listen, we're going to take your jacket off, stage it like you ran away, and tear some of the bloody patches of jeans, but it's going to be okay, because once we're done here, I'll give you my jacket to keep you warm until we get you to our place and there's a doctor, he's a ghoul, but he'll help. Just stay awake. I'm sorry, I bit to much, too deep, the neck is delicate but you were too tasty." Kin could only nod, half the sleep trying to wash over her as she fought against it, and half to resist the haziness of blood loss as she started to wobble.

The bloody coat she was wearing was quickly removed, and the cold air quickly began to chill the woman who's warm blood seeped into the cold of the night losing its heat and congealing against her flesh. Yui couldn't help but lick it up, her warm tongue tickling the half conscious young woman and warming her where her own blood was failing her. Yuno however had taken to propping her up against the wall, as she threw the jacket away as if it was discarded in the chase having been caught. Returning only to take one of the girls shoes and tear a bloody fabric of her jeans, her sharp nails cutting into her thigh as she did. Yui simply enjoyed the free treat from the girl who didn't, couldn't resist. All the while Yui's older sister staged the murder scene.

And just like that Kin was dead, all too perfectly timed with how she collapsed from where she had been propped, Yui the only one close enough to catch her as the older sister quickly took her into her arms, and together the three of them fled, the unconscious Kin within the arms of her two predators, dreaming softly for the first time in years as they fled the scene of the crime.

(Line Break)

Waking was a slow process, there were no lights, no sounds, and the grogginess in her mind simply wanted her to stay there asleep, wherever she happened to be, Kin didn't know exactly. But as she started to think, the cogs began to turn, she remembered, bit by bit, piece by piece, being the subject of such awful bullies, the pressure of parents that weren't her family, the freedom she could never obtain, and then she remembered the monsters, the ones that hide under children's beds and eat those that misbehave, and they spared her. They offered her a way out, a deal was struck, a deal she didn't fully know what was expected of her, and still, she fell, tempted by the freedom from the bird cage that had become her life.

Kin's musing came to an end at the sound of loud voices coming from the other room, giving her the motivation to look around herself at the doctors office or something, it looked shady, but Yuno and Yui were ghouls, I doubt they could take her to a hospital. "No, listen, either you pay in cash, or you have to babysit Hinami for a whole month. I'm not a charity, and this is dangerous, she's human." A male voice only got louder behind the door as she tried to stand, still groggy from whatever was in her, hoping to be able to ease whatever argument was underway.

But she was stopped by a kindly lady, who she hadn't noticed, having hidden behind a screen curtain, gently pressing her back into bed although Kin could hardly resist if she wanted to. All she could offer was a weak apology. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to get my friends in trouble." The woman only smiled brighter than before, as she looked behind her and gave a small wave of her hand, and along came a little girl, adorable in her attire, shy as she approached and clung to her mother's side.

"It'll be okay. Asaki is just worried is all, those sisters are always getting into trouble, and he's just scared now a human's involved that the trouble will come here. He's a doctor see, but you're the first human patient he's ever had. He's scared what might happen next, and we have our daughter to think about." The woman confessed her worries, explaining the argument that could still be heard next door between Yuno and this Asaki doctor.

"I don't want to get anyone in trouble, no body. You're nice people, and so are Yuno and Yui, they offered me freedom, a chance to truly live, and, I'm sorry it led me here, and got you wrapped up in this. Please, if I can help at all, to make up for it. Let me." Kin couldn't help but feel responsible, her own wish to escape was granted, and this world she'd escaped into was dangerous, filled with paranoia and where friendships could truly be a brittle thing. But Kin, she promised to change that, to help, she owed no allegiance to humans, or to ghouls, no ties to this planet but the ones she made, any responsibilities to such things died in her old life, and so, she'd choose here and now. To help her friends. No. To make friends. And then, then she'd help them.

The young woman merely laughed, and picked up the little girl to sit her on her lap, no older than ten by Kin's guess, sweet as a button, Kin offered her kindest smile. "Weeell, since it's likely your friends are going to get stuck on babysitting duty as they clearly don't have the cash right now... How'd you like to take over? I saw your school uniform, perhaps help a little with her Japanese? Better than one of those two getting her into trouble. Besides, you need a few things before you can go anywhere with those two. So it'd work out for the best. How's that sound Hinami?" The two looked down at her, Kin offering her hand to shake, which was shyly taken by a smaller hand, making Kin smile all the more.

"Hinami Fueguchi, what's your name?" The question was innocent enough, but it caught Kin by surprise, did she really want to go by Kin, she could be traced by that name, even if she wasn't, it was a tether to a life she attempted to leave behind. So the silence stretched out a little until it became awkward and suddenly Kin just smiled widely, trying to ignore the fact she was making a life changing decision on the spot so as to not upset the clearly shy little girl.

"Yin. I um, don't have a last name, not any more, but I like it, it's freeing now. That's what Yuno and Yui gave me, a chance to be free. Who needs to be tied down with a last name unless that tether holds you to something dear. And you, sweetling, are held most dearly by both your mother, and from what I can tell of the argument still continuing, your father too." Yin took a moment to assess her new name, gold, golden, that was her old name, and now, just like that, from gold to black. But that just meant she had her clean slate, black canvas to colour however she pleased.

"Babysitting Hinami for a month! That's final." The loud voice of who Yin assumed to be the father followed him into the room as Yuno was hot on his tail. "Nah ah, not happening. I don't do brats, and Yui doesn't speak a damn word to anyone but me. It's not happening. Put what we owe on a god damn tab!" The swearing was enough for I think Ryouko and Hinami, but it was Yin who spoke up first.

"Then it's a good thing neither of you are doing it. I'd be happy to babysit Hinami for a bit while I recover, and we can cover some more kanji while I figure out what my next step is... I mean, do you two still want me around? I'm not going back to my old name, not going back to my old life, with or without you two, but, I think we also need some time for police searches to die down before I get out there and for me to learn a bit too, you know?" Yin calmly explained to Yuno who could only slump in resignation of the facts.

Hinami's mother spoke up next, probably to assuage the father, "It'll do them all some good, having a human around for Hinami, and for Yin to get used to ghouls. Plus, Yuno needs to get some things for their new friend if she's joining the double act she has with Yui. And Yin here needs a place to lay low too, there will be search parties for her until they mark her down as dead. So I think this is the best course of action for all of us. Don't you agree, Asaki?" Asking in that tone a wife asks, when a question isn't really a question.

And so that was how it was settled, and how Yin found herself the guest of a family of three ghouls, who never ate, but were kind enough to supply her with enough to eat every day. Hinami's mother braving trips outside just for that purpose, since she couldn't yet risk it herself, not yet anyway, not while she was still on the news. Kin, the missing daughter of a politician, blood at a ghoul attack, no body. Kin could barely stand to watch it as her mother and father cried and held one another like they never had in years. The strangers they were to her from birth, but the strangers they became to one another through time and choice. Yin couldn't stand those that let family slip through their fingers so willingly.

So she often vacated the room whenever the news was on, excusing herself to practice some menial house chore. Despite Ryouko's protests, she insisted on helping with the work, with the small house and space she was allowed to sleep. With the clothes, and one day in the cracked earth of the harsh grassy back garden, Yin spotted Hinami reading, or trying to read. Each time getting more frustrated with a word she didn't know, each time revisiting what looked to be an old notebook for answers. And if the notebook offered none, then she'd struggle on. Determined to read what she could.

The book was advanced for her age, or at least Yin thought so, but ever since she was born, English was her first language, hiding that had been a struggle, moreso was learning Japanese, which she still had a lot left to learn. But she got by. But perhaps, mediocre or not, she could offer a helping hand, and that was how they found themselves laying side by side as the sun set working together on the harder characters to decipher in the book. Giggling when neither of them could get it right.

The first week passed much the same, Yin couldn't leave the house, Asaki kept to his work, and Ryouko had her hands full with needing to actually buy human food, and do house chores despite returning to find most of them finished anyway. Yin and Hinami getting along almost like sisters as they worked together through all the literature they could find, and reworking over it again and again to learn, as they both improved.

It was a good life, a comfortable week, the Fueguchi family were kind, hospitable, ghoul or not, Yin came to care deeply for them, wishing she herself had been reborn into such a lucky family. Poor as they may be, hunted even, but they had each other. But the second week, Asaki's office got loud, normally it was a patient, a ghoul patient who needed treatment, but it didn't quieten down, normally no one was to interrupt, but after fifteen minutes of constant yelling, screaming, cursing and what may or may not have been threats, Ryouko decided to check it out. With strict orders for the girls to stay outside no matter what.

Ten minutes later, the noises hadn't settled down and Ryouko looked to be nursing a black eye as she retreated bloody nosed from the surgery room. And this time Yin thought to try her luck, push come to shove, she could always sate their appetite, a full ghoul is probably a calmer ghoul. As she entered the office it became clear that the situation wasn't a patient that was suffering trauma. But a patient wanting money, wanting services, wanting something he shouldn't be asking for, it was clear as there was not a scratch on him as Asaki sat in his chair superficial cuts. "Look, I don't have the money okay. You charge more and more for protection, but you never protect us from anything, just leave. I have nothing left, to give you."

It was then the ghouls noticed the scent of human, and the deranged aggressor was quick to wrap her around the throat and pin her against the doctors desk. "Seems you were lying doc, you at least have a meal for me. Trained her well, isn't even scared, and tasted too if the healing bites don't lie. Was she good? Tell me doc? Your human pet, got the money now? Or should I take her instead?" His focus split between the young woman he had pinned with ease to the desk, and the stunned doctor unsure for what to really do. But Yin knew what to do.

Well, she was guessing, but, she was allowed to guess, she had studied human biology in her past life, not ghoul, there were no ghouls so she had to guess. She knew what everyone knew, impervious to blades and bullets. But that was the skin, bones though, were they as fragile as normal or not, blunt force however would hurt none the less, like a mace to an armoured knight. Her mind was running a mile a minute, what else, what else, there had to be more to save her life as the ghoul became less interested in the flustered doctor and more interested in his prey.

Membranes, semi-permeable membranes, not all tissue could hold the bulletproof theory, even if internally they could, and while she didn't want to test her theory sticking fingers up bum holes or genitals, there was always the eyes. And that's where she struck, an average pen from the desk she was pinned against. She didn't want to test if the film itself of the eye was impenetrable, if the lens perhaps could resist the force, but she knew she could gauge around his eyelid, and healing or not, that would hurt. Long enough for her to kick him as hard as she could in the bollocks. Again, bulletproof or not, the blunt force had the man on his knees as the nerves and the two tinier testicles rattled from the impact. That was all she needed to escape.

And her courage was all Asaki needed to find his own, as his Kagune erupted behind him and with his long tail, wrapped around the ghoul and threw him out on the practice. To never be heard of again. Yin got a brief check over, some bruising around the neck, and some superficial scratches to her back was all she received, but the glare from Ryouko and Hinami almost killed her, the girl was almost as gifted as her mother, and the mother was very talented in the parenting art of telling off misbehaving children when they worry them.

Despite the lecture on being weak, and human, vulnerable and valued, she did appreciate it, the concern showed. In the last house she was in, if she ever stayed out too late, or did something reckless, her 'parents' would find some way to make it about them, their image if their precious daughter did such and such. Ryouko genuinely cared, and she had only been here ten days. The rest of that week passing peacefully, calmly with Hinami and Yin getting closer, playing together between lesson languages. In which Hinami begged her to be taught some english when Yin accidently let her proficiency slip when she translated something on the television that was subtitled wrongly.

By the end of the second week, Yin was rather proud of the work she'd put in with Hinami, not only did she know most basic animals in english, and colours, but at least fourteen different swear words. It almost brought a tear to her eye, but the real clincher, was getting Hinami to read The Raven, oh, such chilling words, her favourite poem of the ages to be deciphered by the speed of the reader into tense of past or present. Yes, Yin had ulterior motives, but the girl was sweet, cute, begged to learn English, loved to read, and Yin just couldn't help herself and to share her favourite poem well, she couldn't resist the temptation, and the way Hinami, a beginner, a virgin to the words, the language itself spoke it was music to the young girls ears. Placing it in a present tense, fumbled as she did with the words, but so present in the moment of the poem with the slowness of it's pace of reading. It even became their secret code.

Whenever one of them asked for the all clear, they'd say in English, 'Quoth The Raven', and if everything was all clear, they'd reply, 'Darkness there, nothing more.' Knowing that many would get the line 'Nevermore', and that was wherein lay the trap, 'Nevermore' their code for it not being clear. And as they came up with these little codes and games, english lessons, japanese lessons, Yin even joining Hinami for her eating lessons. Often having to hold the poor girls hair back as she puked. Yin couldn't help but begin to care for the eleven year old, the little sister she wish she had.

It was some point during the third week, Yin had lost count among the Fueguchi family, but she finally saw Yuno and Yui again, this time dropping by with an unusual guest to make a housecall, his eyes looking ghoulish and not even bothered to be hidden, but the goth attitude, he likely got away with it. Ariki wasn't entirely pleased to see them so soon, but welcomed them in to the small living room. "It's been a while Uta, I hope you aren't in need of my services? Or you Yuno, Yui, but I do fear that's more probably. I noticed the limp Yui." The younger girl simply shrugged and nudged closer to Yuno who sat taller.

"Nope, we're grateful you're looking after our new pet for us, but before she can come with us, as you said, she needs things, one of them, is a mask. Uta's kindly offered to make one for her. Or at least, our money convinced him to come all the way out here to kindly offer to make one for her." Yuno explained, a little grumpy as was her default mood it seemed, Ryouko ever the smiling and pleasant woman however settled a round of coffee for everyone. Uta enjoying his by dipping an eyeball in it for a moment, removing it by the nerves and swallowing it whole, before sipping his drink.

"Okay, um, dumb question, but human, sue me. Mask, am I that ugly, or is there a reason I'm going to need one?" Hinami was quick to assuage her of any doubt of her being ugly, not getting her attempt at humour, although Uta did attempt to tease. But it was Yuno who spoke up surprisingly as she expected the mask maker himself to explain his art, but then again, he didn't seem the talking type.

"Look, even if we were human, some of the stuff we do is sometimes a little sketchy, okay. No one lives for free. But if you're a ghoul, well, just getting something to eat is painting a target on your back, and worst thing that can happen, is you get ID'd, if the ghouls can place a face to you, then you're running for the rest of your life no matter what. Now, I'm not saying ghouls need masks to do bad sh-stuff." She quickly corrected at Ryouko's stern look with Hinami in the room. "Eating isn't 'bad', we have to do it. I'm not saying we're going to go on a murder spree, hunt Doves, or rob banks. But a mask is a necessity when you live with us. Wanna see our masks? Uta made them himself, he makes a lot of ghoul masks, amazing craftsmanship."

It was a question, but Yuno was already fumbling with her pockets to reach for her mask, and Yui sighed as she followed her older sibling's choice. "They call us the Kitsune Twins, although we're not really twins, but yeah, see, our Kagune is in our lower back, like tentacles, but well, our mother developed nine, she was the original Kitsune, investigators killed her. But, well, Yui's gotten three so far, and I'm on five. And we're so close. One day, we're going to be just like her. Nine tailed demons and then we'll protect all the ghouls that need us." Her declaration of one day becoming a defending demon muffled as they placed on identical twin fox masks, each one fitting their face, a gap in the mussel to allow for them to open their mouths and chew, but not expose too much of their faces. They really did look quite imposing, and she could only wonder how their tails would look to match.

Something told Yin, the day she say that, she'd be both terrified, and truly inspired by beauty and unable to tell which rooted her to the spot. But then Uta coughed to get their attention and the girls hurriedly hid their masks again, the Fueguchi family clearly not appreciating the masks as much as the others. "So, will you mind staying still as I take some measurements?" A small shake of the head was all the invitation he needed as he moved across to start measuring Yin's head.

"So, when did you want to become a ghoul? A monster, a demon? Or do you just love playing with fire? You do have fiery eyes." His questions asked with such disinterest, and Ryouko was about to shush him, before Yuno caught her, knowing it was all part of the process. Letting Yin answer would only lead to greater results. And if she were honest with herself, Yuno was quite interested in the answers herself.

"I don't. I hate fire, in fact it terrifies me. Ice is my domain, ice, where you can freeze your feelings if need be, I had to do that for sixteen years, until two 'demons' gave me an escape route. A demon isn't a demon because it is, a monster isn't a monster because it exists. I think therefore I am, merely proves existence, but it doesn't define it. Ghouls aren't monsters, and I'd be no more happy or unhappy to find I had been reborn as one of them instead. But no. Here I am. Death is real, and perhaps the ghosts of my pasts linger too heavily in me, but so is life, and rebirth. What dies feeds new life, what grows old teaches the young. And what has eternity, struggles with every second." Yin spoke with passion, with a solemnness, and most importantly from the heart. She didn't just mean her rebirth by Yuno's hands, she hadn't told the others, but her rebirth started sixteen years ago, and she had been a walking ghost ever since. Ice cold, with ghoulish eyes and longing on her face.

The room was silent until Uta snapped his tape measure shut and jotted down his final notes. "That was perfect, in fact, I'm inspired. Great muse indeed. Yuno told me you would be, she's talked about you non-stop." Yin didn't have time to pause and inspect that, but filed it away for later, wondering if perhaps a certain ghoul was blushing would have some blackmail material. But no, she had a question to ask.

"Can you make the Fueguchi's mask's too? I know they might not appreciate them, I know they don't hunt, they get their food elsewhere. But what if one of them is found, what if this family is discovered. I couldn't imagine the loss that could be avoided if perhaps they could hide, at least a little more than they do already?" Yin asked, her voice speaking up and surprising her hosts, Ryouko reaching for her arm to protest.

"They aren't cheap my masks, and I'll have my hands full with the rush order Yuno's put in for yours. But I 'could', if you've got the ryo?" Uta leaned forward across the table. Clearly intrigued by the human, the one who placed such care in ghouls, and even looked to strike what could be an expensive deal with him, his masks weren't overpriced, but three of them, from a kid on the run like Yuno had told him all about, as she'd not stopped retelling over and over, well, he was interested on if she could pay up.

Yin paused, sighing as she let her head slip into her hands, hearing an 'It's all right dear' from Ryouko from the side, but it wasn't, they needed masks too, they needed protection too, and once upon a time she'd be able to buy the whole damn shop of masks if she went wild with her allowance, but she couldn't even access her own private stash of savings she kept for running away trapped in here. Not that it'd likely cover much. "I'll give you ten thousand ryo when it's completed, and payment up front, I'll give you something I honestly thought I'd never offer a guy. But I'll finger you, whichever finger you want, I've heard I'm quite tasty. And I admit, I'm itching to give you the middle finger right about now."

Ryouko's hands were firmly over Hinami's ears and there was a look that said there'd be words later, but Yin's focus returned quickly to Uta, and the faint half smile of amusement that played on his lips. "Nah, tasty or not, Yuno's laid her claim, don't touch spoilt goods. But the money's good, give you a discount for the balls to offer up your own fingers." And with that, the process repeated itself, questions, answers and measurements for each of the family members, with Yin hoping that it had at least earned her a lighter scolding from Ryouko. Who merely wrapped her up in the tightest hug possible, so tight it hurt, as she felt her worry seep through the hug, "Don't offer yourself up like meat again, what if they don't stop at what you offer? We're not worth it. Okay."

It wasn't okay. To Yin, they were worth it, and her body was hers to sell, in whatever manner she pleased, and no, she didn't care how that may have sounded. Instead, she simply went to rest, and hope whatever fractured ribs from the hug would knit back together come morning. They didn't, or perhaps they did, but the bruises were still a faint purple as she dragged herself out of bed, and ate breakfast. It was an odd feat, eating breakfast in the company of three ghouls, who didn't eat nearly as often, or as innocently as milk and cereals. But they each joined her anyway with cups of coffee which was sweet.

And that day, finally, they deemed it safe enough for her to go outside, having last week the news reporting on how brave a politician was for remaining at work while grieving for a dead daughter. So, as her treat, she offered Ryouko to take Hinami to the park, if it was okay with both of them, to get some fresh air, and real life experience. Yin was worried Hinami was going to become quite the shut in after all.

And with a resounding yes, the two girls practically skipped as they walked hand in hand, Yin exploring the ward she was in, and Hinami leading the way to where she thought the park was. It took some time to find it, but they did in due time. The only problem was school must have been out, Yin couldn't remember if they merely took so long getting here, or if it was the weekend, she'd become quite the shut in too. But there were other children there, and Hinami was getting nervous. Yin knew she needed to fix that.

So, gently by the hand, Yin took Hinami to the swings, the one place in the park that hopefully they could engage in a little sisterly bonding without other children, give her some time to adapt to the presence of all the humans as she helped the girl onto the seat and offered to push her. Met with a mute nod for a reply. "You know, you don't have to be scared right. I've got you if you fall. Even with everyone else here, despite everyone else here, if you fall, I'll catch you little sis. You know that right."

Hinami dragged her feet along the ground to stop herself as she turned to look up at Yin over her shoulder, smiling brightly and nodded wholeheartedly. "Yep. I've nothing to be afraid of with you here. And you're human, and you're so nice, maybe I could make some other friends here too? But I don't know how, will you help me?" The innocence of the request, the realisation that just because she was a ghoul she perhaps never got the chance to learn how to socially fit in, it hit Yin hard, and her only response was a firm nod.

"Then how about the hopscotch, that looks pretty popular, and I'm sure if you ask real nicely, they'll let you play too, I'll be there, and we can both learn the rules together. How's that sound?" Yin offered, looking around the park for something Hinami might enjoy but wasn't too crowded. Hopscotch looked like a good starting point. And despite the shy start, and some apprehensive attitudes from some of the other children about 'newbies', they started to get along and have fun. As they went from hopscotch to tag, to hide and seek and simply dangling from the monkey bars.

At the end of the day, most of the kids were tired as could be, and even Hinami was showing signs despite her physiology, but by the end of the day, the sweetest part was some of the kids asked when she'd next be at the park. She didn't know the answer, but Hinami told them she hoped it would be soon. Sweet and polite as can be, and Yin was proud of the days work helping her become more social. Which even Ryouko thanked her for when Hinami wouldn't stop talking about all the fun things she did.

After that though, it was a little odd to go from socialisation to ghoul biology 101, but as a thank you, Asaki thought to pass on a little of his trade, spending the week, telling her about the factor Rc cells play in their healing, their strength and stamina, their speed. And most importantly, their Kagune. There were several lessons on type of Kagune too, while little of it was 'combat information', she learnt a lot, about how the Ukaku formed from the shoulders, often like wings, brittle but also projectile. Burning up Rc cells quickly in use, but overwhelmingly fast.

Also teaching her about the different ways to hurt a ghoul, which were rare indeed, mostly poisoning from normal food, starvation, or another ghoul were the three main ways to harm a ghoul. But he also told her of the investigators, or the Doves as the Ghouls named them, for their white uniforms, and the cases that contained mutilated Kagune. But also, he listed about his own surgical tools, where certain metals could cut a ghouls flesh, rare, mostly owned by the CCQ in their use of making Quinque mutilations. But doctors like him needed their share of it, so there were ways around that, if you could pay the price.

Other than that, his last piece of advice wasn't about the biology of a ghoul, but their psychology. "Never, ever, trust a ghoul you don't know well yourself. Even if Yuno says they're good, you stay safe, and stay away. You are human, and many ghouls will see you as fresh meat, whether they see you as one of them, a pet, claimed, or off limits, whatever you want to call it. Because there are a lot of ghouls who live hard lives out there, either unable to deal with what's happened to them, or to deal with what they are, and they go mad. The eccentric ones are the major ones to watch out for, but please, just stay safe, come visit, my daughter loves you. And I'd hate to find out you made a meal because little red riding hood trusted the wrong wolf. Okay." Finishing his lecture off with a patronising, but affectionate ruffle of her hair.

Honestly, she was growing less and less sure she even wanted to leave with Yuno and Yui when they returned, but she promised she would, she wouldn't become a burden to this nice family, and she would stop by to visit. But she had to find her own place in the world. And just like that, it came to an end, her month was up, Yuno and Yui waited for her by the front door, her mask in a box, and smiles on their faces. She stepped into both of them as soon as they arrived and wrapped the sisters up into a hug so tight if she were a ghoul she would have hurt them. "Took you long enough." She whispered into Yuno's ear. Who simply shrugged her off.

"Well, what can I say, our new 'princess' has an expensive list of needs if she's coming with. Plus I enjoyed the peace and quiet while I still had it." She smirked, as the Fueguchi family gathered in the hall behind her. Making Yin chuckled, "Once upon a time in another time and space, maybe. But here and now just Yin will do, plus, I thought Uta said you just couldn't shut up about me, don't know, he doesn't seem like the type to lie. What do you think Hinami?" Yin turned to grin at the adorable eleven year old, who simply smiled widely up at her. Before running up and wrapping her in a hug. Which Yin returned most eagerly.

"I'll pop by to visit, if that's okay with your parents? I mean, we gotta teach ourselves to read and write still, and they're waiting for us back at the park." Hinami nodded before letting go, smiling even wider before stepping back to hold her mothers hand. "And thank you, Araki and Ryouko, you've been so wonderful to me, thank you. If I can ever help you, please, just ask. I'd be honoured." And with a small bow, the two groups parted ways.

And into the twilight they walked, letting darkness fall, as Yuno led with Yui by a step behind and to her left, leaving the right side just for her. To fall into step, to fall into line with Yuno felt good, felt right, like she belonged. Box under one arm, Yuno got to a corner and stopped, "Here, this is also yours." Pulling a backpack that was hidden behind a dumpster and throwing it at Yin to catch, before a new coat also followed, "Since I destroyed your old one and winter's coming, can't have you freeze to death." Thick leather coat and backpack on. Box tucked under one arm still. "Come on now, let's get home."


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