NeonHorizon: Please bear with me on this one. I wrote this chapter extremely early in the morning and the "T" key on my laptop is sticking. I tried to catch all of the missing t's and correct them while I was editing. I'll read through this chapter again later and make necessary adjustments. Also...I kind of really love both Yomo and Uta so...you'll see a lot of both. Hey, look, it's Uta starting off the chapter.

"You just missed Kuro-chan. Where have you been anyway? You haven't been answering your phone." Itori initially greeted him with a smile, coming around the bar to approach him. Her smile faltered, steps slowing as her eyes drifted to the dark red substance dripping from his fingertips. "U-chan, why is there blood all over your hands?"

He knew that if she would be able to smell it soon. The blood was not just on his hands; it was all over the front of his jacket and pants. A few drops had even managed to soak through to his shirt. Ghoul blood. "I saw Miyu and Renji."

Itori quirked an eyebrow at the odd reply. "Whose blood is that?"

Uta tilted his head, staring back at her for a long moment. "I need to wash this off." He washed the blood from his hands in the bathroom sink and caught sight of his reflection. There were a few drops on his neck and he carefully wiped them away, a frown pulling at his lips. Renji ruined it.

He had wanted to see Miyu fight again. It was so close. Her kagune was just starting to come out when Renji interfered. Uta felt robbed of his satisfaction. He was glad that nothing bad had happened to Miyu, but he had wanted to see her defend herself.

When he returned to the bar, he tried not to think about the blood on his clothes and sat at the counter beside Itori. "Sorry. I didn't mean to ignore everyone," he started, his tone soft.

"It's fine. It happens. You know, I think Kuro-chan was really worried about you. Might want to give her a call or something."

He wanted to, but he hesitated. "She's with Renji now."

Itori pretended to pout. "You still like her. You've liked her since we were teenagers. Why'd you stop trying? It's not like they're married." She sighed and poured a drink for them both, hoping that the human blood might help her forget about the ghoul blood still splattered all over her friend's clothes.

"I know..." Uta absently tilted his cup a little, watching the crimson beverage coat the glass. "I want to spend more time with her, but we're both busy."

The female ghoul rolled her eyes. "Okay, so just make time! You like her, she still likes you. Don't give me that look. You know that she still likes you, U-chan. You can't waste time like when we were kids, okay? Hideaki disappeared and you waited like three months to talk to her! You could've swooped in right away, but you wasted time!"

"Things kept coming up." Hearing the name "Hideaki" triggered his memory of their fight. Of the man's death and the subsequent burial almost a month later performed by himself and Renji. "I'll try harder," he finally stated.

"Can we talk about why you're covered in blood? I keep trying to ignore it, but it's kinda hard to stop thinking about."

His frown was now gone; replaced with a small smile. "Miyu doesn't have a stalker anymore."

Itori raised an eyebrow and then her eyes went wide. "You did it?"

"I wanted to see her take care of him herself, but…she's so shy." His smile grew as he remembered the sight of her kagune beginning to tear through the back of her jacket. Uta's moment of blissful reminiscing was broken when he remembered what the creep had said to him about Miyu. "He deserved what I did."

She snickered and lifted her glass to take a sip. "How bad was it?"

He shook his head, not about to divulge the details. The corpse was unrecognizable. "He was going to hurt her."

"You think that about every guy."

"Itori…you don't know. He said rude things about her and I know that he would have hurt her," he argued.

"So. You said that you saw her and Ren-chan, right?" She saw him nod. "You know he's been busy. You could've seized the opportunity to get close with her again. Besides, they're not doing great right now. He won't tell her what he's been doing at night and I think she's getting frustrated with him."

Uta looked down at the counter and noticed a few wooden shavings, leftover from when Miyu had been working on a project. Running a fingertip through the remnants, he frowned. "You don't know what it is?"

"No idea! It's pretty irritating that none of my informants can tell me what Ren-chan's been doing! I gave her some fermented blood tonight so hopefully she can get some information out of him. You know how he gets when he drinks." She smiled a bit wickedly. "I wish I could be there for the interrogation."

Shift P.O.V

Miyu glanced toward the door, hoping that he would appear. Hoping that he would come to check on her. After all, her stalker was still out there. Renji had injured him, but they left before anything more could happen. He's running an errand. He'll be back by the time my shift ends, right?

She was preoccupied with her thoughts, as well as wiping a coffee cup, so she failed to notice the ghoul walk in. It was a rather slow time of day anyway so Miyu was not expecting anyone to show up. Her attention was drawn to the man across the counter when she felt fingers gently running along a loose strand of her hair. The woman jolted, half-expecting to find her stalker, but instead found a familiar face that filled her with relief. "G-good morning," she managed to stammer. "Sorry…um…I wasn't expecting anyone."

"I wanted to surprise you," Uta replied. He tilted his head and leaned forward a little. "Are you okay?"

"Her stalker tried to grab her last night," Koma answered. He was just returning from a table with some empty coffee cups. "Hey, can you walk her home tonight, Uta? I think Yomo's going to be out late again." He caught the frown that Miyu flashed him and shrugged. "He's been late every day for the past week, right? And you'd probably rather have Uta walk you home instead of me."

When Uta looked from the other ghoul back to her, Miyu quickly shifted her gaze away from his. "I…I don't want to bother you," she started. "You're probably busy today so-"

"I'm not doing anything. Do you want me to walk you home?"

"If you don't mind…" She saw him nod and allowed herself a half-smile. "Thank you. I really appreciate it." Her mood brightened as she remembered something. "So…your shop is closed today? You said that you weren't busy…"

His expression was a little hard to identify. It was a blend of happy, but also sheepish. "I'm not busy. I was going to wait for your shift to end."

"Could you…run an errand for me?" Miyu saw him subtly raise an eyebrow. "I need some things from the art supply store. If you could pick it up for me…and I'll give you a little extra for your time."

Uta accepted the money from her, but frowned. "You don't have to give me extra money."

"But you're doing this for me…and I won't feel right if I don't…" The woman felt a faint warmth rise to her cheeks as he stood and leaned closer, a hand reaching out to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. His fingertips brushed over her delicate skin and she suddenly found herself remembering how they had been years ago. Her eyes half-closed and she directed her gaze anywhere but his face. Even with the sunglasses on, she could feel his eyes on her. "Um…s-so…the money…"

"We're friends. I don't want you to do that." He tucked the money into his pocket and accepted the list of supplies from her.

When he was gone, she found herself staring after him and began to frown. Ten years had passed, but she could never forget how close they had become after her brother left the fourth ward. They had something between them that bonded them forever. Something that she did not have with Renji.

"Miyu, what's up? You've been staring for ten minutes," Koma finally spoke up. "Are you worried about that stalker?"

She shook her head, finally looking away from the door. "No. It's not that." She caught the expectant look he gave her and turned away to continue wiping the coffee cup. "I don't want to talk about it."

When her shift ended, Miyu changed into her casual clothes and left the café with Uta. She checked her phone for messages from Renji, but there were no new messages. He apologized last night, but now he's gone again. Irimi and Koma don't know where he's going. Even Itori doesn't know. Whatever he's doing, it's dangerous. He keeps coming home with blood on him.

The female ghoul clipped her hair back away from her face when she got home and settled on the couch with the art supplies and her tarantula carving. She felt the cushion beside hers dip as Uta took the seat beside her and instantly felt herself start to blush. Her teeth gritted as she began to work, very aware of how close he was.

The wooden figure just needed paint now and she decided to attempt to use a dry brush technique on the top coat to simulate texture. It was something that she had only done a few times, but she wanted the figure to be absolutely perfect. I owe him a good art piece. He went out of his way to help me today.

Uta watched her curiously, admiring the way her every brush stroke seemed so calculated and delicate. "Pink spider?" He saw her lips curl into a shy sort of smile and drew closer. "It looks really good."

"Thank you…I wasn't sure what kind of spider you wanted…so I just went with a tarantula because they're kind of popular…and…" Miyu felt a hand on her knee and glanced over. When did he get so close? His face was close enough to hers that it made her heart start to hammer in her chest. "R-right, so…pink because…"

"It reminds me of you," he commented. "It's cute."

Her stomach began to do flips and she bowed her head. "Ah…w-well I don't know about that…" Miyu lifted the figure in her hand and turned it to examine the top coat of neon pink paint. It's pretty much done. It looks pretty good though. She set it down on the coffee table to dry and saw that her fingers were smudged with pink paint. "Um…I'll be back. I have to wash this off…"

"Miyu, wait." Uta's hand closed around her wrist and the man's red and black eyes met her dark grey ones. He could clearly see the blush that heated her face and it urged him on to his next words. "Do you…still like me?"

"W-we haven't really…been like that…since I left the fourth ward so…I-I can' really…um…I-I mean…I like you, but…" When he lifted her hand to his cheek, she felt her heart beating painfully fast. She let him pull her against his chest, closing her eyes and feeling her fingers trail down his cheek.

He ignored the bright pink paint left on his skin and smiled as he held her. "You missed me, didn't you? I forgot how nice it feels to hold you…"

Miyu hugged back, but she trembled. "Uta…"