Umm, so this is the last I'm submitting before exams start, it was a weird one to write though I had lots of fun.

Thanks to the people who reviewed and alerted/faved

React

The CCG academy was in a very busy part of the city.

That didn't mean it was easy or even possible to infiltrate. When you looked at the streets that surrounded it with enough detail, you could see the cameras and hidden agents -posing as civilians and failing-.

Friday had been the first day he had not had to do work or clean-up of the ranks.

Eto had been particularly demanding that week too.

He knew that his prey would be out at some point in the afternoon and that he'd have to somehow lure her into a place where they could fight undisturbed.

For some reason, Ayato wanted to fight this woman with both of them going all out, no dirty tricks or circumstantial disadvantages, just raw power.

A small themed café occupied the corner of a street just in front of the academy. Ayato smirked at his luck.

He went in; wearing the most random outfit he'd managed to throw together- a pair of jeans that he didn't remember buying and a shirt that happened to be merchandise for one of Eto's books. Most of his older human clothing didn't fit anymore, and he never bothered with buying more- so he'd seem a normal university student, stopping over to catch up on a book for class while he had a cup of coffee.

"Hello master, what are you craving this evening?" The waitress had eyed him up and down and adjusted her cleavage as soon as he'd come in, the flirty tone did not surprise him, even though he'd showed just about no interest when she'd come over to hand him the menu -humans could be very irrational-.

"A large coffee and…" He looked down, picking the first solid pastry that his eyes fell upon "A piece of strawberry shortcake." He wasn't going to eat the thing after all though the waitress did let out something that sounded like a squeal.

His order arrived a few minutes later, along with an unsolicited phone number that he ripped in half as soon as he saw.

He spent the next two hours hiding behind his book and pretending to nibble at the shortcake that was slowly but surely ending up in a plastic bag. A second cup of coffee came to be in order, and the taste in that place was actually decent, so he indulged himself.

It was barely two when he arrived, so it didn't surprise him that it took a while before the doors to the building complex opened, Hinami had lent him one of her books in the morning and he managed to keep himself occupied with it –it was one of Eto's actually, brutal and psychologically traumatizing, he could see the appeal.-

When the door did finally open, he stared at the stream of students that poured out, all of them wearing the standard stuffy uniform. It took a while until she came out, white shirt unbuttoned at the top and hair in a high bun that let her long pale neck come into view.

The purple-blue bruise that ran around it was also in a clear display, but she didn't seem to mind.

Ayato was going to break that neck for real this time.

To his chagrin, however, she was not alone. Akagi –he'd recalled the name that morning- walked between a short blonde and a very tall brunette, and those two didn't seem to be going anywhere else soon.

He left the money for his order on the table, lacking the patience to deal with the moon-eyed waitress again and briskly walked out of the café, remembering to dispose of the strawberry shortcake on a conveniently placed trash can.

After he'd gotten past the perimeter where there was heavy surveillance due to the academy, he resorted to tracking them by jumping rooftops.

The three women ended up climbing a fire escape like each was racing the others to the top, to the third floor of a nondescript apartment building. He only got close enough to find out that the place reeked of quinque steel and smoke with a hint of Ghoul blood.

That situation would be no good; he needed to get her alone -it wasn't that he thought he couldn't deal with the other two, they seemed like normal students after all, but he wanted to fight her, not the reinforcements that would surely be called-.

Pulling out a black cape and his mask from the backpack, he settled in a shadowy niche between two tall buildings about two streets away from the woman's apartment.

A few minutes after they had gone in she came out, wearing a green blouse and something black on her legs with his bruise still clearly visible on her neck, and lit a cigarette.

When her two friends joined her, they set off and he followed.

First they'd gone to a karaoke bar.

At this point he was wondering if things shouldn't be left for another day, when they walked out and he was almost sure that she'd separate from them, he reconsidered.

Until they headed for a shadier part of the district.

His target walked through the streets with propriety, relaxed but haughty, moving through the heated air like she was much more comfortable with those more dangerous streets rather than the posh ones that had surrounded the karaoke bar.

Curiosity peaked once again; he followed them through the rapidly darkening city to a warehouse from which music could be heard.

Ayato abstained from going in at first, but eventually figured that there wasn't much danger in it, as everyone seemed to get through the door without so much as a word from a huge guy standing in front of it –unless they looked too old and thus like a cop, Ayato had no potential issues on that front, being nineteen-.

Inside the music instantly made his head pound, he'd waited outside for a good two hours, entertaining himself with the book, so who knew where his target could be.

He finally found her sitting in a sofa with a guy that looked a little bit too familiar for some reason, despite the fact that he'd never seen him before.

Ayato leaned into a wall and waited.

Some random girl shoved a cup into his hands and he downed it while he continued to walk around so he'd not become conspicuous in an enclosure filled with doves in training.

The thing in the cup made him somewhat lightheaded -ghouls could technically drink though it was a rare occurrence-.

After two hours of repeating the cycle, he saw his target get up from her sofa and dive into the dancefloor with the eyes of a madwoman.

She moved like there was a current going through her, sharp lines from her arms, and undulating sways from her hips.

He was dizzy – not drunk, like hell he would get drunk while hunting- and somewhat wanted to pry her –his prey- from the crowd and devour her in the middle of that dancefloor, her sweet blood sliding down his chin, pliant flesh bending and breaking and tearing apart beneath his fingertips.

Ayato looked away, so as to avoid doing something that would land him in a suitcase.

When he looked back up after what seemed an eternity, her found that she'd chosen a prey of her own, the woman's –Reina, he'd heard one of her friends call her- hooded eyes regarded a slightly older man with carnivorous appetite as she rejected the pill that he offered her and put his arms around her shoulders.

They danced for a bit, what'shisname's hands all over her. Ayato growled before he could stop it, and had to remind himself that he'd have her soon enough.

His stupid aneki would have chided him for being a hot head –though she was no better-.

He looked back up and his prey was suddenly no longer there.

A second later he found her heading for the door, practically hanging off the man.

Once outside, Ayato took a deep breath, and followed them.

The street were a blur and he was pissed off at that man for holding her up, he could have already lured her away, challenged her, but if there were any witnesses there was likely to be back up.

A few hours later, as she came out of the house that he supposed was that man, smelling in a way that was unlike her.

He would have attacked her if not for her being disarmed and still clearly slightly intoxicated –he was too, though he'd never have admitted that-. Instead Ayato followed, hoping to confront her at her house.

She however seemed to suspect that someone was following her and kept turning in all directions, he could have sworn that she'd caught sight of him a couple of times.

At her apartment, she made a dash for the fire escape and climbed like hell was on her heels, stumbling a bit from the alcohol that had yet to leave her system. Once she was inside, he heard the distinct sound of a case clicking open. Ayato just stood there though, exhausted from following her around.

A few minutes later he heard the shower running on that floor.

Dawn was spilling over the horizon.

It was stupid, but he decided to take a nap in the nice little niche that he'd found earlier before engaging her.

He made his way over to it without hurrying, once he was cradled in the concrete, he turned back to find her once again stepping onto the fire escape, wearing a white nightdress with a cigarette in her mouth and what looked like a notebook in her hand.

Reina looked straight at him.

Or so it seemed, as soon as she had, she looked down and started sketching.

Heaviness overcame him.

Ayato closed his eyes.

.

.

It was the unbearable heat of the midday sun that woke him up, as well as some random bird that had decided that he ought to be dead to not have moved in several hours from such a place.

The creature found out how alive Ayato was in a rather violent way.

Single mindedly he made for the apartment-there didn't seem to be anyone in-, climbing the fire escape like he'd seen her do before.

On the fire escape to his prey's room remained only a paper sheet weighed down by a paper eraser.

A familiar shape on the paper caught his attention, carefully; he bent down to retrieve it.

Hello

What followed was a nigh perfect drawing of him wearing his mask.

Ayato turned around and met steel grey eyes and that damned Koukaku quinque.

.

.

No animosity, no rage, no hatred.

Bloodlust.

He'd followed her there, that look in her dark rimmed eyes being the only clue he had that she was not leading him into a trap.

It was a warehouse, not unlike the one that they had first fought in. The air was hot and humid and there were pipe leaks on the walls.

Chances were high that it was due for demolition.

She was wearing light armor on her arms only, and aside from it she wore only a pair of black cargo pants, boots and a white wife beater.

All things aside, she had a lovely shape.

He licked his lips, thinking of the battle to come.

And there they were.

Her quinque latched securely on her right arm and his kagune out and blazing.

A cigarette was stuck between her lips; the smoke swirled around her, blended with her hair. "I'm Reina" Her voice was deep in a rough way, the cigarettes, Ayato supposed.

"Did you think I'd give you my name dove bitch?" He snarled

Surprisingly, she laughed "No" the statement took Ayato aback "I just figured I might as well give you mine"

The bluntness seemed to be one of the defining traits of her personality, she didn't beat around the bush, another thing was that she seemed unfazed by everything, she hadn't flinched even when she'd found him standing on her fire escape and had known exactly who he was.

Ayato had not been wearing his mask.

"Come" there had been something to her voice that spoke of both emptiness and fatigue "Let's finish the fight, Black Rabbit"

If seeing his face had any effect on her, she didn't show it.

"You'll get your wish this time, Dove"

The woman had smiled then, and proceeded to walk out of the room without looking back. Ayato had followed with his kagune ready below the cape.

The cigarette's dying breath marked the start of the fight, she tossed it to one side, not bothering to turn off the thing.

Before it hit the ground each had dashed towards the other.

In a way, she fought like Touka, strategy against his no holds barrier. Jumping around like she was dancing and executing movements with the oddest combination to throw him off his game.

The first attack for example, was a high kick that she masked with a swing of her quinque. Ayato felt the foot more than saw it get embedded on the soft flesh below his chin, his wings were busy blocking the quinque, and moving without releasing it was impossible.

Her legs packed quite a punch at least.

As white lights danced in front of his eyes Ayato took the chance to grab the leg that she was retracting and push it back against her chest, hoping to hear the ligament's tearing as he disengaged his kagune from her weapon.

Nothing happened, even with her knee at her shoulder, she pulled at her quinque, hard, and while she managed to pull it free from his wings, it knocked her off balance, and Ayato, realizing that for some reason she seemed inhumanly flexible bulled her leg back and used it to throw her to the other side of the room.

She got up, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth and pulling her quinque up. She dashed towards him. He shot shards of kagune at her; they barely grazed her as she ran to avoid them and swung her axe at the ones that seemed like they were going to reach her.

Then suddenly, she stopped, about ten feet from him, whipping the axe around with one hand to deflect even more shards and –with a maniacal smirk- snapping her right hand in a strange way that was quick enough to seem a trick of light even to his eyes.

It took a fraction of a second more for the pain to register. A quinque steel knife was embedded deeply in his stomach, the wound by itself was not even close to fatal, he'd heal, but it was bleeding profusely, and the woman had resumed her dash toward him, and he soon found an axe buried in his forearm as his kagune dug into her shoulder.

She tried to push it further in, probably trying to nick the bone, but upon finding that it couldn't be done Reina resorted to making a grab for the knife still buried in his stomach, only to be stopped by Ayato's other wing that had come to wrap protectively around his body.

Sensing the danger she leaped backwards from him, making sure that the motion at least elongated the deep gash on his arm.

Ayato willed his kagune to wrap around the upper part of his torso and his left arm –He could only half feel the right one-. The wing that he'd left free elongated and turned into spikes.

The woman on the other side of the room was panting and bleeding profusely through a deep gash above her clavicle.

A growl escaped his throat and he leaped intent on finishing with one stroke, to the neck, or the heart. He saw her steel herself and surreptitiously pull another knife from her pants. Instead of coming close as he'd intended Ayato shot several kagune spikes at her, fast enough that she would most surely not be able to dodge, then, when she should have been caught off guard and unable to use her hidden knife, she didn't not seem to stop moving for a second, like she had intended for this, her grin widened and her axe was all of a sudden flying towards him at the same speed as his spikes were at her.

His unprotected flank took the bite of the hit, the axe ripped off a good chunk of it and blood cascaded to the ground.

At the same time, he saw that she'd dodged three of the spikes but one had managed to pierce her stomach and the other two were deem in her le.

There was blood dripping from both of their mouths.

The portion of his kagune that was acting as armor crumbled away, his RC cells rushing towards the injury to try and mend the damage.

A low whimper startled Ayato out of his own pain; she had broken off the spikes at the tip, probably to prevent internal bleeding.

Groaning, the woman moved her hands to her pockets to reveal three more quinque knives.

Quickly, he returned his wing to its original state and barreled with shards as she ran towards him, visibly limping.

His wing has nearly run out when she reached him, surging with a pained groan she jumped above him and it Ayato found a knife wedged behind his clavicle, the wound gushing blood like crazy.

The next knife had apparently been meant for his heart, but he saw the hand before it managed to get there and grabbed it, twisting it in a way that was very obviously painful. Her other hand dropped the knife that had been there poised and ready to sink through his lung and into his heart.

Ayato grabbed her arm with both hands and shoved her into a nearby wall.

His kagune had run out, all of his remaining RC cells were trying to fix the damage to the blood vessels at his side and his neck. She'd probably known this; his wing had disintegrated in front of her eyes.

Eyes that were empty, accepting, just like the first time.

The clang of the knife against the floor had been her surrender.

Now that he had her pinned to the wall he could tell that there were more in her pockets. More that she hadn't tried to reach for.

But what did that matter? Ayato could feel the edges of his vision going black, he hurriedly wrapped his hands around her neck, mimicking the last time they'd been in that position.

Her body also relaxed, fully prepared.

"Do it"

Half of his vision was gone then, and his body screamed at him to eat –devour, soft flesh-blood, right in front of him- without relinquishing his hold on her neck, his mouth mover like it had a mind of its own sinking on the flesh of her arm.

She cried out.

Ayato wasn't sadistic, restraining himself after the one bite that he'd gotten, he steeled his hands and tried to squeeze -oh, he'd eat, but she'd been a good enough opponent that he'd spare her the agony of feeling chunks of her flesh be ripped from her body-

Tried.

Because in that moment, and in front of the incredulous eyes of the girl who apparently wanted to die, his vision went fully black.

(Or learning to when you find yourself facing an armed stranger)

So, my lovelies how am I doing?