"Uta's a demon." Yuudai saw Itori put a hand over her mouth, muffling her laughter. He could see it in her eyes; she found this hilarious and she was barely trying to hide the fact. "No! I'm serious! That guy's a demon!"

Itori shook her head, almost crying because she was laughing so hard. "What makes you say that, Yuu-chan?"

He ran a hand over the indigo-colored peach fuzz on his scalp, frowning to himself. When he had emerged from the old building, he did not expect to find the female ghoul hanging around. He was glad though; she was cute. Probably good company. Not to mention the fact that he just hated being by himself. Without Teruko around, he had no idea what to do with himself.

"He's too damn strong, for one! What kinda guy is that strong at that age, huh?!" Yuudai closed his eyes and leaned back in the shade of the building, crossing his arms over his chest.

"T-chan's that strong," she pointed out. Itori snickered beside him and dug in her bag for a can of coffee. The chilled metal pressed against the side of his neck and made him hiss in surprise, but the boy gladly accepted the gift. Seeing the pleased look in his eyes, her grin spread a bit. "If she was a guy, the girls would be all over T-chan."

"I'm just as strong as she is!" he protested.

"Need help opening that can?"

"I can do it myself! What're ya tryin' to say, Itori-chan?! Ya think I'm weak or somethin'?" Yuudai struggled for a moment before finally getting the can open.

She watched him drink and offered a sweet smile. "Okay, so what else? You think he's a demon just because he's strong?" The girl was having way too much fun listening to him ramble. She had enjoyed hanging out with Teruko the past two weeks, but now that she had Yuudai alone she could see his appeal as well.

Wiping drops of coffee from his mouth, he scowled. "He's creepy as fuck. Ya know, I woke up from a nap the other day and he was just standin' there in the room! Just watchin' me sleep and messin' with one of his piercings! I dunno what the hell he was plannin' to do while I was asleep, but when he saw I was awake, he started smilin' at me and just stood there! He didn't even move until Teru came back and started talkin' to him!"

Itori shook her head, barely able to stop herself from laughing in front of him. "Uta was watching you sleep?"

"I know how it sounds, but that creep was standin' there watchin' me sleep! Why would I make this up?!" Yuudai grimaced and slouched a little. "What're ya doin' here anyway? Were ya lookin' for Teru? 'Cause she went to work."

"T-chan's got a job?"

Shift P.O.V

The conditions were less than ideal for hunting, but Teruko needed two things; money and food. As much as she hated doing this during the day, it was out of the question to go at night. A nighttime hunt would attract too much attention. Over the past two weeks of living in the fourth ward, she had studied the movements of the other ghouls. They all tended to gravitate toward Uta and any hunting took place at sunset at the earliest. Thus why she had gone to an area just outside of the fourth ward to do this.

She narrowed her eyes on her target, stomach quietly growling. The target in question was a young man in his early twenties. A human. Bearing tattoos on his forearms and wearing sunglasses. Tattoos, she thought with a grimace. Ugly stuff. He'll probably taste nasty.

Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew the order again. It was a standard order for meat with a specific target in mind. Simple enough. The young female ghoul that gave her this order card seemed eager for the man's death. No doubt, there was some sour romance involved.

Teruko knew that she was not like Itori. Not pretty enough to flirt with the target to draw him somewhere private. That would make it too easy anyway and she enjoyed a challenge. Teruko would need to find a different way to isolate him from the other people on the street.

Licking her lips, she stared at the man as he studied a teenage girl that was crossing the street. What a creep. Teruko saw his head turn slightly and shifted her gaze to the teenage human as well. She let her eyes roam up and down the girl's figure, making it rather obvious to the young man. When he smirked, she knew that he had noticed. That's right. I like girls. Say something.

He started toward her, wearing a sleazy half-grin and lowering his sunglasses as he approached the ghoul. "Hey, kid. You like what you see over there? You swing that way?"

She tilted her head slightly, lips curling into a smile. "Anyone can appreciate a work of art," she stated.

In that moment, the amusement in his eyes transformed into disgust. The man stepped closer, scowling down at her. "What're you saying?"

"I said-" Teruko gritted her teeth as the young man grabbed her by the hair. Damn it! Really?!

"You think you're better than me? Is that it? Calling that piece of ass a "work of art"! Aren't you a little full of yourself for a high school kid?" The man leaned down, bringing his face close to hers.

The smell of meat emanated from the human, making her stomach growl in response. She had to fight the urge to snap her teeth at the man and simply glowered up at his narrowed gaze. Teruko's hands were gripping his wrist, but she was using restraint. To use her full strength against this man, out in the open, would draw too much attention.

She was no longer in the fourth ward, but the adjacent fifth ward. Teruko knew that the CCG was more present here, yet she had been willing to take that risk. What she had not expected was this quick confrontation with her prey. The plan had been to discreetly take him out and harvest the meat from his corpse.

Clearly irritated by her lack of response to his insults, the man began dragging her away from the sidewalk. No one bothered to even look over as he took her into an alley. Once they were a good distance from the street, she was thrown against the wall and the man drove a fist into her gut.

Teruko heard him snarling insults and swears, but her attention was on how she could quickly and quietly kill him. She was reluctant to use her kagune because it would definitely draw attention to the alley. Her kagune was such a vibrant crimson and a decent size for an ukaku's kagune. Yuudai often made rather unsavory jokes about how her kagune were bigger than his was.

As the man drew back a fist to punch her in the face, something stopped him. A hand darted forward from behind him and grasped his wrist tightly. The human's arm was wrenched violently backwards, bent the wrong direction until the elbow snapped and the man screamed. Teruko moved without a second thought and lunged forward, closing her teeth on the man's throat.

It was as she tore away a big chunk of flesh that she realized who had helped her. Gray-green eyes met a pair of red and black ones. She saw Uta's grin seconds before his hand plunged through the human's chest and his fingertips brushed over her collarbone. When he pulled his hand back through, blood splattered his face and he licked his lips.

The corpse crumbled to the ground between them and Teruko stared down at it for a long moment. What? What just happened?! What? Lifting her gaze to Uta, she hated the blush that rose to her face. Watching him lick blood from his fingers sent a rush of warmth through her. "What're you doing here?" she finally managed to demand.

He tilted his head and gave the corpse a kick in the side. "I heard that you were leaving the fourth ward and I wanted to see where you were going."

She crouched down and rummaged in her bag for a knife. "Just…doing some work," the girl explained quietly. Her eyes darted to the alley opening, checking for any curious humans that might wander in.

"Work?" The bleach-blond ghoul crouched across from her, giving her a curious look over the rim of his sunglasses.

"Was hired for this. A girl wanted him dead and wanted food. I need money and food. Simple job." Teruko wrapped the harvested meat when she was done and packed it away into her bag. Now all that's left is delivery. She stood and began walking down the alley, away from the street. Now that she had blood on her, she had to stay hidden until she was safely back in the fourth ward.

Uta was soon coming up beside her, absently fidgeting with one of his ear piercings. "So you kill for money, huh? Kinda like a bounty hunter. That's pretty cool."

Her cheeks burned and she bit her lip. "Yeah, well. Some humans have gotta die, right? Some of 'em don't deserve to live."

Catching the dark tone of her voice, his grin reappeared and he nodded. "Is that what you really think?"

Teruko gripped her bag's strap tightly and frowned. "Yeah. Don't you? They hunt us. Can't let us just live. Not even our fault that we're the way we are, you know. Not that they care. What would they do if they couldn't get food? They'd starve. They'd cry. So why can't they understand-?" She shook her head, cutting herself off. "Humans are just trash."

Leaning forward to try to see her expression from behind her bangs, Uta raised an eyebrow. "You really don't like them."

"And you do?" she challenged.

"Not really," he replied with a shrug. "But you really hate them, don't you?"

"If they want love, they ought to try loving us first." The female ghoul glanced over to see him licking his fingers again. "Taste good?"

Rather than an answer, she found her back pressing against a cold brick wall in the shadows. A hand gripped her right shoulder and she saw the male ghoul leaning down toward her. Uta held her chin with his free hand and focused his eyes on hers. "You want a taste?"

Why do I feel excited?! What's wrong with me? He's just teasing me! It's what he does! Why am I like this? Why am I so-? Teruko blinked in alarm as the boy's lips met hers, hard. His body pressed against hers and pinned her tightly to the wall at her back. Her eyes gradually slid closed as his mouth moved against her own, his tongue easing past her lips. The taste of human blood added to the already pleasurable moment and a soft groan was muffled by his mouth.

When Uta pulled away, he licked his lips again and tilted his head. "I think it tastes pretty good," he teased.