A/N: I know the Aogiri raid takes place in December but I changed it to fit in with this timeline of events.

May 29th, 2:45pm

"Okita is buried at the Senshoji Temple in the 3rd Ward and his grave only open to the public once a year in June." Emily finished without looking at the paper she held in her hands but instead gazing out at the students in her class. She was in Japanese History and they had been given assignments to write reports on famous historical figures and read them aloud. Emily had chosen to do hers on a swordsman from the Bakumatsu named Okita Souji.

"Thank you Ishihara-san." her teacher said signalling her to sit down and then called the next name on his list. Emily returned to her seat and listened quietly to the rest of the speeches. She felt a vibration against her leg just as her classmate finished his report. Fishing her phone out of her pocket, she tapped the screen. It was a text from Uta.

See me. U.

Emily frowned and let the screen go black. She had only seen him the day before when she went to see how Chou was doing, everything had seemed normal or as normal as things were when it came to Uta. Perhaps Itori had discovered some new information or maybe something had happened to Chou? It sounded too serious, too urgent to be just a request for a visit. Pursing her lips, she unlocked her phone and began typing her reply.

I have work till 7.

Uta's reply was instantaneous.

Now.

Something was definitely up. Quickly packing up her stuff, Emily shoved her phone back into her pocket, cursed Uta silently, and quietly snuck over to her teacher standing at the back of the room observing each display of public speaking.

"Sir, I have to leave." she whispered so not to disturb the girl reading her report. Her teacher, a young man in his early 30's, arched a thick, dark eyebrow questioningly.

"Why might that be?" he asked just as softly.

"I have to go to work." she lied praying that he would just believe her and let her go. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously but miraculously agreed to let her leave early. Emily sent up a prayer to any one who would listen as she half-walked half-jogged out of the school grounds and towards the train station.

HySy was dark and empty when she arrived but it was unlocked so Uta, or someone he trusted, was there somewhere. There was no reply when she called out so she pulled out her phone and dialed his number.

"Where are you?" she asked when the other side of the line picked up.

"Right here." Uta replied walking out from the back room. He was shirtless beneath his favourite black wrap sweater, his harem pants hung low on his waist and he was barefoot. It had obviously been a quiet day. Uta hung up and dropped his phone into his pants pocket.

"What was so important that I had to leave school early?" Emily asked slightly peeved as she locked her phone again and crossed the black and white tiled floor towards the elder male. Uta didn't reply but instead just gazed at her owlishly.

"Is that a trick question?" he asked after a moment of silence. Emily frowned at him,

"Are you being deliberately obtuse again?" she replied crossing her arms. Uta blinked once, twice, a third time. Bringing up the text message she held her phone out to him, "You didn't send this?"

Uta leaned down and gazed curiously at the screen and the message he had supposedly sent. "No? That's definitely my number but I didn't send that."

"That's weird. Do you think it could have been Itori?" Emily asked suddenly getting an uneasy feeling. Uta shook his head,

"I haven't seen her all day." he confessed, "The only people I've seen were the few customers who came in." Emily started pacing back and fourth trying to think of any kind of possibility that made a lick of sense. Why would someone text her pretending to be Uta to get her to come to HySy? Itori she could understand, but Uta had said he hadn't seen her. Unless he was lying. But then why would he lie?

"Are you sure there wasn't anyone else here?" Emily asked desperately clutching at straws. To anyone else it would seem like she was getting flustered over nothing. But someone had somehow managed to text her off Uta's phone without his knowledge - as far as she could tell - and that meant they knew Emily's mobile number since Uta didn't save it under her name. That was a big deal. That could possibly put everything she'd worked towards in major jeopardy.

"No one aside from..." Uta trailed off abruptly and Emily spun around to face him, quick to jump on his silence.

"Aside from?" she almost demanded. Uta looked as though he'd just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar for the briefest of seconds before his features resumed their usual neutral expression.

"Customers." he replied easily. Emily gazed up at him suspiciously and for the first time had the feeling that he was keeping something from her, more than just his usual antics. Something big. Something she really wasn't supposed to know about.

Uta rarely talked about his plans with her, he'd said once that it was for her own safety and peace of mind and had admitted that if she knew, she'd definitely look at him differently. That was something he couldn't bare, he'd said. So he would keep his activities to himself and tell her not to worry or that it was a secret and she'd leave it at that. She trusted Uta, she trusted him with more than just her life. He was family. She wanted to trust him now too, but there was a small cloud of doubt in the back of her mind that maybe, just this once, he'd actually lied to her and if that was really the case then what was it he was protecting?

7:20pm

"Again, I'm really sorry I was late. It won't happen again, I promise." Emily said for the eleventh time since her shift started two hours ago. Her boss waved her hand and smiled with bright red lips,

"Emily, I'm serious, don't worry about it. I know that sometimes classes or club activities run late after school ends. Besides, it's a book store not a multi-billion dollar corporation. Relax and go home already."

Emily apologized once more, earning a kind but stern look from her boss, then grabbed her bag and left. She had spent too much time at Uta's and missed the train so she'd been half an hour late to work, that on top of being stressed out about who managed to text her off Uta's phone and the possibility of him lying to her made her distracted. Her boss had just passed it off as school stress, something Emily was thankful for.

She'd just opened her front door when her phone rang. Groaning and rolling her eyes she pulled it from her back and slid the ringing phone icon across to the green circle.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Em." It was Chloe. She sounded more like herself than she had in the past few weeks after her father's death. Emily was glad but she still felt for her friend. She knew Chloe was just trying to be happy for everyone else and so people would stop asking if she was okay.

Emily shouldered the door closed and dropped her bag on the floor, "What's up?" she asked while removing her shoes.

"Actually, I was wondering what you were doing tomorrow? My grandparents are driving me insane and I need to escape." Chloe complained and as if on cue Emily heard the elderly couple in the background yelling about how they couldn't understand anything on TV.

"Sorry, Chloe, I've got some errands to run tomorrow and then work in the afternoon. But I'm free all day Sunday?" she replied apologetically. Chloe didn't hesitate,

"Sunday is great!" Emily could hear the relief in her voice, "Do you know if Toshi is free tomorrow?"

"I'm fairly sure he's not doing anything." she replied walking over to the kitchen and opening the fridge. It was practically empty, only a carton of milk and some grapes were inside. Emily pursed her lips, she should have grabbed something on the way home.

"Okay, I'll give him a call." Chloe said and then fell silent. Emily would have wondered if she'd hung up but the slow breathing on the line suggested she was still there. Just as Emily was about to ask if there was anything else Chloe needed, her friend spoke, "Thank you, by the way, for everything. You're a real good friend, you know?"

"You don't have to thank me." Emily said suddenly becoming awkward with the situation.

"I do. I don't have many friends, not ones like you anyway." Chloe continued and with each new praise her friend bestowed on her, Emily's guilt grew deeper and the wretched feeling inside her threatened to suffocate her, "You've done all this amazing stuff for me, setting me up with Daichi, helping me through this dark time in my life, listening to me talk about silly girl things...You're my best friend, Em. Thank you for putting up with me." The phone clicked silent signalling Chloe had hung up. Emily stood staring at her empty fridge, her phone still against her ear and feeling as though she wanted to cry. What would Chloe say if she knew Emily had been lying to her the entire time she'd known her? That the father that she loved so much had been killed by people Emily had spent her life helping and that Emily's own father was also one of those people?

She didn't have to guess; Chloe, Toshio...every human she knew would hate her. They would see it as a betrayal of her own kind. Helping creatures who kill and devour humankind - what kind of human did that make her?

A new thought shuddered through her. Her phone clattered too noisily in the silence onto the wooden floor as it slipped from her hand. Emily stared wide eyed at the yellow light glaring harshly back at her. The cool air from the refrigerator was like the iron gauntlet of truth slapping her in the face and demanding a duel to the death. This painful, terrifying thought that had stabbed and twisted itself into the depths of her mind, this thought that sprouted barbs and clung relentlessly to her was; What if they found out about Ayato? What if Chloe ever connected the dots and realized that Emily's childhood crush, the boy she still harbored strong feelings towards, was in fact a Ghoul?

Emily sank to her knees in front of the fridge under the weight of all the unanswered questions piling slowly upon her shoulders. She had known her two lives were slowly melding together, but she had hoped there would be a little more time for her to decide what path to take. Perhaps she was just being paranoid? Maybe she didn't have anything to worry about at all? Or was that just naivety speaking? She'd had no house guests, injured or on the run, since Chou. There had been no reports from anywhere of Ghouls being randomly attacked in her area. The CCG were focused on the problems unfolding within the 11th Ward. She was passing her classes, she had a caring and wonderful boyfriend, a best friend she could actually tell some secrets to, and her friends knew nothing of her secret life. And yet in the pit of her stomach doubt and fear knotted like thick brambles, poking and snagging, determined to not let go. Renji's words the other night had only made her fears grow worse and now Uta's strange behavior...

Something bad was coming. Something terrible that threatened her delicate balanced life. Something, that if allowed to proceed, could destroy everything she and her parents had worked so hard for and Emily would be powerless to stop it. What was her life coming to?

May 30th, 12:42

Ayato stared at the door he hadn't seen in over a year. Mixed feelings churned in his stomach, perhaps it was a good thing the apartment was empty. It would have been annoying if she were home, after all he wasn't in this stupid place for pleasure. He was supposed to be looking for his idiot underling and the female Ghoul Tatara was looking for. Seeing this particular person would delay that and make him second guess himself again. Especially since he was going to Anteiku. He couldn't afford to have her clouding his mind again. Not after the last time. Hell, he couldn't let anyone even know about her.

He'd been trying to avoid her for a year but every time he closed his eyes, he saw her staring at him disapprovingly like she knew he was better than this. It pissed him off. More than once he'd snuck out to the 20th Ward, every intention of ridding himself of her for good but finding that he was totally unable to. He could easily kill hundreds of humans in one night; men, women, children. It didn't matter to him. But her? He just couldn't kill her. He doubted he would ever be able to. But she was his weakness, his vulnerability. If Tatara or Noro or even the Bin Brothers found out about her, he was sure they'd find a way to use it against him. Especially that sick fuck Yamori. Man would he have a field day with that knowledge. That's why she had to die, for her own sake and his.

Ayato clenched his fist subconsciously as if trying to convince himself that this was the right course of action to take for the both of them. If she had to die, he was the only one to do it. He had to do it.

"Can I help you?" the scent of human trash wafted in his direction, his gaze shifted to the girl walking towards him and he arched an eyebrow. She looked about his age with a bob-cut the colour of honey and large coffee-coloured eyes.

"No." he replied coldly, digging his hands further into his pockets. He couldn't afford to make a scene here, not in front of her house.

"Oh, I only ask because you're standing outside my friend's door so I thought maybe you knew her." the girl replied brightly. Ayato frowned at the floor, he should have known she was a friend. Good thing he didn't kill her.

"Wait, are you Emily's cousin?" the girl asked curiously. Ayato looked up at her in surprise - Emily's what? How on earth did she get to that ridiculous conclusion? "She told me that her cousin was staying with her for a while last year around this time so I just guessed...Hey, where are you going?"

"She's not home." he said distantly as he passed the girl and made his way back down the stairs. Trust her to come up with some stupid bullshit lie to make things seem normal. He shook his head and tossed up the hood of his jacket and deciding to leave his decision until he'd dealt with the shit hand he'd been given first. A stupid subordinate, a runaway woman and Yamori practically breathing down his neck.

He was going to kick the shit out of Banjou when he found him.

Actually, finding where Banjou was hiding wasn't as hard as he'd initially thought. There was only one place he could have been anyway and, incidentally, it was the same place that would have information about Kamishiro Rize: Anteiku. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, psyching himself up, before stepping right off the roof. The glass shattered instantly as his boot thrust through in a powerful kick and crunched under his weight as he swiftly took out his stupid, useless subordinate with another kick.

"Banjou-san!" Ayato didn't bother paying the second person in the room any attention. If he was with Anteiku he was just as worthless and weak as the rest of them. Pathetic.

"You sure do talk a lot, Banjou." he said glaring down at the older man moaning and gasping on the ground at his feet. Grinning slyly, he slammed his foot down on the now broken table, "Do you want me to torment you until your vomiting blood again, hah?" To his right, a bird flapped its wings wildly, rattling its cage, and squawking. Ayato's gaze briefly slid from the trash at his feet to the cage, How nostalgic...

"Ayato...!" Banjou groaned, sweat beading on his face. Ayato's expression shifted back into his usual cold eyes and scowl. He was pissed off. Someone was going to get hurt. The other kid in the room looked as though he was going to throw up as the door was pushed open.

"Banjou-san, are you being violent - Geh!" both Ghouls stopped dead in the doorway from shock and fear. They hadn't expected Ayato to show up but quickly moved to join their fallen leader on the ground, the third of their party having being hidden from view before also joined them. "A-Ayato-san...Why are you...?"

Ayato didn't give them the privileged of finishing their sentence, "That guy wouldn't answer his cell phone." he said simply as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "At any rate, all of the 20th Ward's information is gathered here therefore I went out of my way to come here." He glared fire at them all, "Got it, dumb-asses."

He didn't expect a reply however that didn't stop Banjou from muttering something too softly for Ayato's ears. He figured it was something about the Kamishiro woman though.

"Did you say something, trash?" he asked patronizingly but before Banjou could reply or Ayato could do anything to make him reply, the guy Ayato had been previously ignoring stepped into the game.

"Uh, um..." he started but Ayato's ice cold glare made him stop before he even really got started. Trash should just stay quiet. He half turned, preparing to knock this kid into next week when a new voice, a voice that made his temper soar spoke:

"Hold on a minute, what's all the commotion?" Touka looked shocked to see her little brother standing amongst the chaos but that shock quickly faded to annoyance, "Ayato."

He smiled at her, it was a devilish, condescending smile, "Yo, long time no see, idiot sister."

Touka's glare softened minutely and she seemed simultaneously relieved and saddened, "Where did you wander off to, idiot?" she asked him.

Ayato withheld the scoff threatening to burst through him, "I've been studying the world. I'm different from a peaceful idiot like you...I'm not a human. I'm a Ghoul." His stupid sister gave him the reaction he'd expected.

"Little kids shouldn't act so arrogant." she growled through gritted teeth. All the teasing had gone out of Ayato - he was serious now. The fact of the matter was Touka knew nothing of how the world really worked. She lived a peaceful life, as peaceful as it could be for their kind. She had the opportunity to be happy. Ayato had to kill his happiness.

"You're the little kid." he told her, "Face reality, you callous."

"Oh my..." Ayato's fury soared. Damn it. He'd wasted too much time with his sister and now they were here. He swore under his breath. Touka's eyes went wide as she realized she'd let someone get behind her and hadn't even heard them approach.

"I had heard your sister was here but I didn't think she'd be a shop employee. You're both so beautiful, I'm jealous." Nico, the flamboyant weirdo that often worked with Yamori, cooed sending chills down Ayato's spine.

"Yo Ayato-kun. I was waiting for you." Yamori said with his large arms folded over his chest. Ayato's scowl deepened,

"Che. You already know this place pretty well, huh Yamori." Ayato replied with clear annoyance. This was just what he needed, Yamori and his twink fucking things up and taking the credit for it.

A thought tugged its way into Ayato's mind - if they were already here and knew he was coming, was it possible they also knew about her?

"It's all thanks to Nico." Yamori said breaking into Ayato's fears, "His nose works really well."

As if on cue, Nico touched his long nose and laughed, "That's right! If I'm following a scent, I can find it in no time!" Ayato fought to keep his expression in check - Shit! How could he have forgotten about that?! He did a quick mental check, was there anything on his body or clothing that could lead back to her?

"Rize-san isn't here!" Banjou said drawing the attention back to the reason both Ayato and Yamori were there in the first place, "So what use is it for you guys to come here?"

"Hmm, you're right Banjou-kun." Nico said knowingly and clutched Yamori's shoulder as they both turned their attention to the guy on the ground,

"Yep, Macho Beard." Yamori agreed, "But our orders were to capture 'Rize herself' or to capture 'the one who smells like Rize'." Yamori and Nico both turned to the one person in the room who had been almost totally silent the entire time; the eye-patch kid.

"That's him." Nico said smiling right along side Yamori. Ayato, thankful for any shift of attention away from him and his activities outside Aogiri, decided it would be better for him to work with Yamori instead of against him in this case. "Shall we quickly take him back?"

Touka suddenly moved between them and Eye-Patch, glaring harshly and acting tough. She really didn't know what she was up against. "Hmph. Take him back? Do you think we'll let you do as you like?"

Yamori moved before anyone else could react and grabbed Eye-Patch by the throat roughly, "Doing what one likes is the right of the strong." he said as Eye-Patch struggled in his iron grip. This guy is the one Tatara wants? This weak piece of shi-

Just then, before Ayato could even finish his thought, Eye-Patch swung his leg over Yamori's arm and aimed to kick him in the face. But he was still no match for the sheer power Yamori possessed and all too soon he was being smashed into the wall, coughing blood and spit.

"Kaneki!" Touka cried as Yamori's foot connected with Eye-Patch's face spraying more blood onto the floor and wall.

"Gonna stand up or sleep?" Yamori asked cracking a knuckle and looming over Eye-Patch, "If you cooperate with us then I won't have to hurt you any more than this..."

Eye-Patch lifted his head to glare up at Yamori and surprise took hold of everyone but Touka in the room. His eye patch had fallen away and in its absence revealed a single kakugan. How? How the hell did this guy have only one?! Was this why he was looking for Rize?

Suddenly, One Eye moved to punch Yamori, but the latter was still too fast and managed to get behind him, stabbing him through in the back with his kagune.

"Where...?" One Eye uttered, blood pouring from the corner of his mouth, "Where did he come from?" Yamori retracted his kagune and let One Eye fall to the ground in a heap. Movement just inside Ayato's field of vision made him remember his head, this confrontation wasn't over just yet.

"You...Bastard!" Touka cried as she charged toward Yamori, fists raised and fire in her eyes. Ayato cursed silently and moved to intercept. "Move, Ayato!"

He remained silent and swung his fist into her face sending her flying to the other side of the room. That should keep her quiet for a while. Slowly, he strode over to her to make sure she would stay down,

"You're so weak, Touka." he said coming to a stop by her feet, "Just like Dad." Her hand twitched and he heard her mumble the word father softly. His shoulders slumped slightly as she stubbornly climbed to a crouching position.

"Our father..." she said, her voice wavering, "You don't know anything about our father! He fought for our sakes!" She glared up at him, her kakugan glowing fiercely, producing her kagune and running towards him. Ayato stood still and sighed; why did she have to be so stupidly stubborn?

He blocked her kagune with his own, wrapping it around him like a blanketed shield. Touka didn't know what he'd been doing while he was away, she didn't have any idea just how strong he'd become. He could manifest both wings, while she could only bring forth one. She was weak.

"The one who doesn't know anything is you, Touka." he told her with a grin, "Our mother and father both died because they were weak. What can a weak person protect? Who can they save?" His kagune bristled with power that dwarfed hers, "Without power, the weak can only be snatched away."

"Take..." he continued forcing his kagune into long, sharp tendrils, "...This." Without hesitation he stabbed his sister continuously at a speed she couldn't hope to follow. Tears welled in her eyes as the realization she'd been beaten dawned on her. This time stay down, stupid sister. She staggered and fell to the floor at his feet.

"You should just grovel on the floor." he told her harshly. Ayato's mood had soured greatly, he wanted nothing more than to seek out the one place he could feel even the slightest bit happy, where he could have some semblance of a normal life, but instead he acted as cold as he felt and returned to his job.

"Ayato-chan, you're so cool..." Nico cooed extending a hand towards him as an attempt to touch his hair, "And cheeky."

Ayato slapped the elder's hand away instantly, "Don't talk to me like we're friends, fucking faggot." He pushed through both Nico and Yamori hoping they wouldn't ask questions.

"Should we take your sister too?" Nico asked seemingly unfazed by Ayato's cruel insult.

"We don't need her. She'd just weigh us down." he replied picking up a large duffel bag as he walked towards the door, "She likes to pretend to get along well with humans... Banjou, stuff that one-eyed bastard in the bag and let's go back to 11."

11:45pm

"Renji? What's wrong?" she asked rubbing her eyes and gazing up at the huge man in her doorway. He looked grim, more so than normal.

"I need you to come with me." he told her. Emily woke up immediately, something was horribly wrong. Grabbing her jacket and shoes she followed him out to his car down below and climbed into the passenger seat.

"Ken's been kidnapped." he stated once they were driving, "There's an organization of Ghouls calling themselves-"

"Aogiri Tree, right?" Emily finished having already known about them. Toshio had told her about Aogiri earlier that day and how they were targeting Investigators and CCG branches in several Wards but had only fully usurped the 11th. It was brutal and no one survived. Special Class Investigator Marude Itsuki was planning a full attack in retaliation. Aogiri were the ones who killed Chloe's dad.

"Yeah." Renji replied not looking the least bit fazed, "The Manager is planning on infiltrating their hideout and getting him back."

"You can't be serious?" Emily asked shocked, she liked Kaneki. In many ways he was like her; tied to both the human and Ghoul world and he was important to her. But going there would be dangerous even for Anteiku.

"You know something?" Renji asked curiously. Emily nodded, "The CCG are planning on raiding Aogiri's hideout. Marude got a lead on where their headquarters are in the 11th and is aiming to destroy them within the next few days. He's just got to get approval from the Chairman - which won't be difficult at all - and gather his men. I can't give you a specific number but it'll be in the high hundreds, maybe even thousands. That's only part of the problem. Unless Yoshimura has more information than I do, there's no certain number of how many members Aogiri has or how strong they are. There's rumours of 13th's Jason being associated with Aogiri, he alone is an S ranked, who's to say how many more like him there are or even stronger."

"He's there too." Renji said. Emily stared out at the scenery whizzing past in a blur, trying not to feel anything. He wasn't part of her life anymore, he hadn't been for a year. She had promised herself that she wouldn't think about him for her friends sakes and for her own well being.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked him softly. Renji stopped at a red light and rested his hand on her knee comfortingly, "I wanted you to know everything before anyone else tells you." he said before returning his hand to the steering wheel, "Ayato was part of the group who took Ken, as was Yamori. Touka told us when we came back and found the place turned upside down. She'd tried to stop them but he was too strong for her. He's not the guy you knew anymore."

"It doesn't matter." she said softly despite the conflict she was feeling. Ayato had joined Aogiri, kidnapped a friend of hers and probably beat seven shades of hell out of his own sister. What happened to you... she thought to no one but she already knew the answer. He had a deep seated rage within him, a hatred for humans that was so strong. She should have done more to quell that anger, she should have made him stay...

The cafe was dark and baron when she and Renji entered, she could smell the overpowering scent of various cleaning products and the subtle hint of coffee beneath it. A single yellow light shone in a bright rectangle along the floor and wall, with a long shadow stretching like a snake in the middle.

"Who's that?" she asked not recognizing the silhouette.

"Tsukiyama Shuu." Renji replied.

"The Gourmet? You are serious, aren't you?" Emily commented in surprise as they neared the only open door. She could hear various raised voices of concern, mainly about how Tsukiyama couldn't be trusted with the safe retrieval of Kaneki.

"That's not a problem." Renji said as he entered the room just after Touka had proclaimed again that Tsukiyama would probably just try to eat Kaneki if he got the chance, "I'll keep an eye on him, he won't be able to do anything needless."

"Yomo-san..." she said in surprise. Emily stepped around the tall, vibrantly dressed Ghoul and followed Renji into the room, "Emily? You're here too?"

Emily met Touka's gaze briefly before looking away, she feared that if she met the older girl's gaze all her thoughts would appear on her face. Thoughts about Touka's younger brother...

"Oh my, this is really upsetting, I have turned over a new leaf. My feeling of wanting to save Kaneki-kun is simply out of friendship." Tsukiyama exclaimed dramatically, "I actually started to like him quite a bit, but I'm an idiot so I only realized it recently." Emily rolled her eyes and stayed close to Renji, she knew better than to trust, or go near, someone like Tsukiyama.

"Tsukiyama, you haven't forgotten about Kimi, have you?" Nishio Nishiki asked the Gourmet. Tsukiyama lifted his head and gazed up at nothing on the ceiling, somewhat dramatically.

"I don't have any interest in that thing now." he replied sending Nishiki into a rage again. Touka intercepted the attack,

"Stop it!" she yelled, "It's pointless to fight amongst ourselves!" Emily sighed and gazed up at Renji, he expression hadn't shifted. Apparently this kind of thing was normal. Knowing that, Emily was glad she didn't spend much time here anymore.

"Oi!" called a strangely familiar voice, "Can we come in?" All eyes turned to the door way where an red haired head was peeking in.

"Itori-san?" Touka asked curiously just as Uta also stuck his head in the doorway, "And Uta-san?"

Itori broke out into a wide, happy grin, "Hey you hooligans!" Uta's gaze shifted to Emily briefly and he gave her a small, rare smile. Though Emily returned it, she still wasn't sure if she could trust him completely. However now wasn't the time to be bringing that up - her business with Uta could wait until after they retrieve Kaneki and come back alive. Once everyone had established that it had been Yoshimura who had called them all there and that Kaneki had indeed been kidnapped by Aogiri, they all settled down to hash out a plan.

"Emily," Yoshimura said suddenly, "I'm sorry about involving you in all this. I know you try to maintain neutrality in your work, but we have need of your knowledge involving the CCG activities."

Emily nodded and swallowed the mouthful of coffee she'd just taken, "The CCG are onto Aogiri as well. As some of you already know," her gaze shifted from the old man to Uta sitting across from her, "Aogiri has taken complete control over the 11th Ward, totally wiping out the CCG branch there. They left no survivors. Marude is out for blood and has organized a plan of attack. In a few days, he'll lead close to 1000 men on a raid of Aogiri's hide out. Chances are Aogiri are already aware and are planning for it as well."

"With both sides preoccupied with killing each other, it should be simple enough to infiltrate Aogiri without being detected." Yoshimura said, "But it also presents more of a risk. Instead of just one threat, there'll be two. Uta-kun?"

"Yes?"

"How long will it take to make suitable disguises for everyone here?" Yoshimura asked. Uta leaned back against the leather couch and closed his eyes, mentally calculating the time.

"Two weeks." he said, "I'll have to close shop and work on them non-stop but they can be done in two weeks."

"Yomo-kun will supply you with the designs and anything else you need." Yoshimura said before leaning forward on his knees and knotting his hands between them, "Two weeks...That's our deadline. All of you, spend the next fortnight preparing - do whatever you have to do. In fourteen days, we're getting Kaneki Ken back."