Does Man Make the Monster?

Shorts 2

(A/N Sorry, for not posting anything for a while. It's been hell here lately, really bad hell. I still haven't gotten around to writing the next chapter too much. I'm inserting some more little joke stories just for fun and hopefully hold you all over a little while more. I have been working on it but just spurts. I don't want to rush it like the last chapter where I went back and did a lot of rewriting. I'm also currently working on a project for something and that's eating up time, too. Please enjoy these little shorts.)

SOUNDS/sounds

Thoughts

Ichigo walked down the hall toward Akane's office. He had finally gotten some paperwork done after Akane fussed him out for slacking off. He just needed her signature on a few things before he dropped them off at the proper department. He just went for handle when the door was jerked open from his fingertips. She looked up at him in a bit of a panic.

"G-good! Come in here quick! I need your help," she grabbed Ichigo's arm and jerk him inside her office. "I can't do this one on my own! I've tried and tried but I just can get up the courage to actually do it! I need you to… I'm sorry."

She handed him a rolled up newspaper and pointed at the ceiling. He looked up at the spider no bigger than his thumbnail. He turned to look at her as she coward behind him.

"Seriously? We fight creatures that can eat us and this is what you're freaking out about? This little thing right up here?"

"Just get rid of it! I don't want it in my office," she snapped, pushing him forward a little.

"I don't believe this…" He looked up at the spider and wondered.

He took the tip of the paper and tapped around it. The spider had long since expired and was just stuck on the ceiling.

"Don't toy with it, kill it!" she whined, stepping back. "I don't want it running over this way towards me."

He knocked it off the ceiling and it lightly floated to the floor. Not missing a beat he scooped up the dried out spider onto the paper and acted like he was going to throw it on her. She scrambled out of that office faster than Superman. She stood out in the hall knocking off invisible bugs and causing a fuss. Ichigo stood in the doorway with the tiny carcass still on the piece of paper. Some of the other office works started laughing at the sight before them.

"ICHIGO!" she yelped.

He moved the paper a little closer and she backed right back up.

"Sto-o-op! It's not funny! You know I hate those damn things!"

"Why do you think I'm giving you such a hard time about it? The spider was already dead. It wasn't like it was going to do anything from the start."

The whole floor was just in hysterics watching Akane cower back from such a tiny speck of a spider. Her face was as red as her hair.

"Oooh, you're going to get this back 10 fold, Ichigo," she barked as he moved a little closer. She jumped back. "I-I mean it! Dead or otherwise keep that thing far away from me!"

"You make it far too easy sometimes, Akane," he turned back into the office and dropped the arachnid and the paper into the trash. "It can't hurt you. Here are some of the papers I finished. They just need your signature."

He placed them on her desk, waved, and walked back down to his office. She was furious at this. Some of her coworkers were still laughing about just happened. Oh, he was going to get it. He was going to get it really good.

00000000000000

It was about time for Ichigo to call it a night. He walked down to his office, his quinque at his side. He'd do a coupling quick things before he headed home. He reached out and grabbed the door handle.

Crackle…

"YOOOW!" he yelped, snapping back his hand involuntary and even jumped back. "The hell…? Ow!"

He looked at his hand. It was sore and tingling. He looked at the handle again. He touched it lightly again and had the same reaction as before. This time however he saw a tiny little electrical arc jump from the handled to his hand.

"Are you kidding me right now?" he pulled off his suitcoat and used that to insulated his hand to open the door. "How is this thing rigged up?"

He flipped on the light and noticed about 7 people in his office. One being Akane sitting pretty in his computer chair, looking like some sort mafia boss. They all held up several cans of silly string.

"Fire," she leered as they started to spray him with the sticky colorful strings.

"Nooo! Stop it," he snapped, covering his face. "Not in my face!"

The coat slipped off as he went to shut the door and grabbed the bare handle again. He yelped and ran with his attacking coworkers right behind him. Others were also come of their offices armed with silly string. Nowhere was safe. He was chased into a small corner in the hall and was completely covered in a stringy rainbow. Just about everyone on that branch of the floor was in on it.

"Payback is a real bitch, sweetie," Akane said, pulling back some of the silly string from Ichigo's face to snap a picture with her phone.

"What the hell is your problem?" Ichigo snapped, spitting out some of the string from his mouth.

"Retribution for the spider last week," she grinned devilishly. "You can thank Amon for the electrified door handle idea."

Everyone then tossed their emptied cans at his feet and started to leave.

"Oh, am I supposed to clean this up, too?" Ichigo snapped.

"If you weren't here, this mess wouldn't have happened," Akane said, handing Ichigo a trashcan. "So have fun cleaning your mess."

She turned and walked away with a skip in her step. Ichigo grabbed handfuls of sticky strings from his face and clothes and slammed them into the empty trashcan. There was a trail of silly string stretching down the hall, leading all the way back to his office. It was all over the floor, walls, tables, shelves, and cabinets. Nowhere was safe from the sticky, stringy mess. He sighed and got to work pulling his outline off the wall.

Ichigo sat on the floor watching a movie with Toshiro at his right messing with a crossword puzzle. Toshiro was only half watching the movie. It wasn't something that held his interest. Ichigo, however, seemed to be really enjoy it.

"Oh, man, I haven't seen this in full since I was in middle school," Ichigo said, staring at the TV watching a well animated motorcycle chase. "You really are missing a good movie. Akira is a classic."

"I have no doubt but I just don't have any interested in it," Toshiro answered, lightly twirling his pen in his fingers. "Just like you have no interest is crosswords."

"Hmph… Whatever," Ichigo waved him off turning back to the movie.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

They both jumped at the sudden sound on his door. Toshiro got up as did Ichigo. Ichigo straightened his PJs and walked to the door. He slightly opened it and looked onto the dark breezeway.

"Ichigo, how are you?" Amon said, stepping into the lamplight. "I hope I didn't bother you. I know it's rather late."

"Huh, no, Amon it's fine," Ichigo said, turning to see Toshiro already gone. "Come in."

Ichigo opened the door and stepped to the side. The investigator stepped in and Ichigo closed the door behind him. Amon held out a bag of fast food.

"I'm basically here to just eat and run," Amon said, handing Ichigo his own portion. "It's lunch hour."

"I figured that but what brings you here?" Ichigo snorted, looking at his foil wrapped burger.

"I hadn't seen you in quite a while. Not since the memorial," Amon said, pulling out his own food from the bag. "I just wanted to see how you were and what you've been up to."

"I'm fine and there's not much I'm doing, honestly," Ichigo said, plopping back down on the floor. "I start back shortly as it is."

"I know but what harm is there in coming for a visit?" Amon said, sitting down next to him.

"Nothing, I was just surprised to see you. That's all," Ichigo replied, turning his eyes back to the TV.

"This is Akira, isn't it?" Amon asked, turning to look at TV as well. "I didn't see this until I high school. I had really gotten into it for a little while. I even had some of the classic manga."

"I never collected the books or read them for that matter," Ichigo said, unwrapping his burger. "I've just always liked the movie."

"Well, yeah, it's good. They took their time with the animation," Amon said, digging into his burger. "You can tell when animation studios have invested their money. They add more detail not just in the animation but in the detail of the backgrounds, the atmosphere, and special effects. Like for example, one that really had some good money behind it was Attack on Titian and one that they didn't… Uh… Oh, yeah, Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. That was really poor quality. They were not planning on sequel that's for sure. Their opening had the best animation but the show was a real let down."

"Most usually have flashy opening credits so they can catch your attention and get you ready to watch the show. Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro did poorly but Assassination Classroom did really well and actually finished properly. They were stories by the same author. What's his name… Matsui Yusei," Ichigo pointed out. "Which is why you got a clip of Nougami Neuro and that joke about product placement in Assassination Classroom. I also think Matsui also studied under the guy that did Bobobo-bo Bo-bobobo, which is why there are a couple of cameos in some of the episodes from the Bobobo series. So, let's see… What about this new 3D animation anime?"

"It's… It's slowly growing on me. Not really that big of a fan. Some works really well and others not so much. The mix of them together is good if they mix in the 3D models seamlessly. I don't like it where it's blatantly obvious," Amon grumbled, trying to think of an example. "Let's see… Oh, the new Dragon Ball series. When Freeza was resurrected and this new fleet pours from the spaceship. It's right there in your face. They were just a bunch of computer generated specks."

"Hahahahaha! Yeah, I noticed that too. But as a whole animation really has come a long ways. You can really see it in long running series. Like Inuyasha for example. From the beginning to the end of its original run it had changed but it was subtle if you followed it. Then they finish out the series and that time gap is just like wow. Either way nothing's really hand drawn anymore. Do you remember those really old shows where you could always tell it was an animation cell?"

"You mean like in Dragon Ball Z? You always knew what rock was going to blow up in the very near future," Amon stated.

"Hahaha! Totally, they didn't even try to hide the fact that was an animation cell! You're a kid and you're sitting in front of the TV and oh, hey, that rock's going to die in 3, 2, 1. There goes Goku," Ichigo snorted. "Then the animation teams that were not on the same page."

"DBZ as an example again. When they are fighting Vegeta for the first time. One second the prince's hair is blowing in the wind…"

"And the next it's not moving at all! What was another one I noticed…? The Legendary Armors Samurai Troopers," Ichigo snapped his fingers. "Like the first couple of times they couldn't figure out if White Blaze's nose color. It would be white one scene and solid black the next."

"I… I actually don't remember that," Amon said, trying to place it.

"You know White Blaze the large white tiger that helped out the Troopers fight against Arago and his 4 evil warlords? Hell, I think it even had an American release… What did they called it over there… What did they… Ah, Ronin Warriors!"

Amon shook his head and Ichigo just started at him.

"Oh, c'mon I'm not that much older than you! They were 5 teenage boys with mystical armor. Rather cheesy by today's standards. Are you sure you don't…"

Amon shook his head again.

"It was like Sailor Moon but for dudes!"

"I'm sorry but I don't recall that one at all. I really don't."

"Missed out. Heh, there was this one background that was painted with the words 'Lady's Sayfart' written on a sign."

"You're making that up. I know you're making that up."

"I am not! You don't get to see it for very long but I paused it one day on a recorded VHS and it was right there. Right behind the green nimbus trooper, Seiji. Clear as day! 'Lady's Sayfart.' In English, mind you. I didn't know what it said at the time and I couldn't figure why my dad was on the floor rolling in laughter."

Amon still gave him a very disbelieving look.

"I am not joking!"

Amon added a sarcastic grin to the look.

"I'm not! Look it up when you get a chance. You can probably find the series on the internet somewhere by now."

"I'll just take you up on the challenge, you know."

"Fine. I'm not making it up," Ichigo grumbled and then smirked. "Man, could you imagine if there was an anime based on our job? Killing ghouls and that."

"Well, there are a couple series right now but none of them are close to fact."

"That's what I mean, Amon. Take out all the mystical pieces and the bullcrap and actually do an anime or manga series actually following our daily lives. But fictionally."

"I guess that would be interesting to a degree."

"A real gritty, horror anime. OH, with a lot of psychological expects as well."

"It would have to be censored. Heavily censored."

"Yeah, like by random bars of magic light that comes out of nowhere so we can see a nipple."

Ichigo gave Amon an evil grin. Amon gave a slow nod.

"That gets on my nerves. They censor what we want even on the DVD home releases."

"I know and the way they try to hide nudity and gore is really poor," Amon grumbled putting his trashed back in the bag. "Like you said some random magic bar of light comes out of nowhere or they just blurred it out plan and simple. Sometimes it's just blacked out or they change the color to a negative. That's fine on the TV but why censor on the DVDs, too?"

"I dunno. It sucks and you really have to dig to find what you want and it's either poor quality or pulled not long after finding it. Some of it isn't even that bad, I swear, so why censor?" Ichigo grumbled. "There is a conspiracy going on about censorship. I know there is."

"Hahaha! Yeah, well if you find out anything on that conspiracy let me know. As it is I need to head back so I don't get scolded for being a minute late," Amon got up to his feet.

"I'll take that," Ichigo said, standing up and took Amon's trash and walked into the kitchen. "I won't hold you up. I know how that corpse gets."

"He really doesn't like you calling him that," Amon stated as he walked towards the door and Ichigo followed.

"Why do you think I do it?" Ichigo questioned with a sarcastic smirk, opening the door. "But I know you think he looks like one too."

"Yes, but the difference is—I don't say it to his face."

"Well, yeah, you'd be out of the job, so why would you?"

"Exactly. Mado tolerates you making that joke but don't push your luck much more than that, okay?" Amon said, stepping out onto the breezeway. "I think he's realized that's just your nickname for him, as insulting as it is."

"I'm just being honest," Ichigo shrugged.

"And so am I," Amon sighed, adjusting his coat and put his hands in his pockets. "I'll see you around. Take care."

"You, too. Thanks for stopping by," Ichigo waved. "It broke up the monotony."

"Hm? When did you paint your nails?" Amon asked as Ichigo put down his hand and quickly balled them up. "I've never known you to do that before?"

"Boredom. I'll take it off before work," Ichigo said, putting on a weak smile. "I have way too much free time at the moment."

"Odd pastime but okay. Later," Amon waved and turned to leave.

"Bye," Ichigo replied as Amon walked off down the breezeway.

Ichigo stepped back and closed the door. He let a long sigh and looked at his nails again. He didn't even think about them. He turned and walked over to his dark bedroom.

"It's safe to come out," Ichigo said, opening the door to see Toshiro sitting on his futon.

Toshiro jumped down and walked back out into the living room, behind Ichigo. Ichigo resumed his spot in front of the TV and Toshiro sat down beside him. He got so caught up talking with Amon he missed a good chunk of the movie. Oh, well. He focused on the TV for a bit before noticing Toshiro was rather intent on his phone, with a set of headphones in his ears.

"You're awfully quiet," Ichigo said, nudging Toshiro to get his attention. "What's so interesting?"

Toshiro turned his phone to face Ichigo. Ichigo raised his eyebrows in surprise. That was the last thing he was expecting.

"You're actually watching Samurai Troopers?" Ichigo almost gasped.

"It sounded interesting. It is rather 'cheesy' as you put it," Toshiro said, turning the phone back around. "But I sort of like it."

He likes that but not Akira? Okay then, to each their own, I guess, Ichigo slowly turned back to the TV. Huh? I wonder if I could get him to watch Trigun next?

(Back in the academy days with Ichigo and Amon.)

Ichigo looked at the paper in his shaking hands as he and Amon walked out of the classroom. There was looking red C at the top right corner of an exam. Amon was happily fanning a perfect A test in Ichigo's face. The carrot top looked like he was about to blow a gasket as he went to shred Amon's test.

"Stop being a show off," Ichigo snapped, reaching for Amon's test but it was quickly pulled out of his reach.

"Well, maybe if you had actually studied you would have gotten a higher grade," Amon snapped as Ichigo angrily balled up his own test and tossed in a trashcan. "You slack off why too much."

Snow and ice covered the ground. It had snowed last night but it wasn't enough to cancel classes. But it was enough to cause several hazards on the academy grounds. Several people had already slipped on the ice. One poor woman slipped and landed on her arm. She was rushed to the hospital for a broken wrist. The squabbling duo walked down a shallow but tall hill. Large patches of ice remained ever after a good salting. They had to be careful where they stepped.

"You were supposed to have helped me study but you never showed, both days," Ichigo growled out. "So don't even lecture me about slacking off. Part of this was your fault."

"Whatever. It's your grade now. Nothing can be done about it. Hey, at least you didn't fail."

"You tried to set me up for failure, Mr. Eyebrows. We're supposed to work together or did you forget that little detail that we're stuck together? As far as the school is concerned we might as well be handcuffed to each other."

"Thank goodness weren't not… Just try harder next time, what else can I say?"

Ichigo gave Amon a slight push but Amon wasn't taking that lightly. He gave Ichigo much harder shove in return. Ichigo stumbled back, his feet making contact with a large icy patch on the sidewalk. His feet started going off in every direction. Amon lunged forward the grab him but Ichigo slipped down just a split second before. He hit square on his butt and back and with momentum slid down the hill. He had no way to stop as he continued his uncontrollable path. Not even seven feet ahead of him he slammed into another man, who landed on top of him. The pair continued down the hill before slamming into a dirty pile of shoveled snow.

Amon quickly gave chance and stopped beside them. The man rolled off Ichigo and sat on the ground, rubbing his back. Ichigo struggled to sit up. Everything hurt. He groaned as he managed to force himself sit up straight.

"Is everyone all right?" Amon asked, worry on his face. "Is anyone hurt?"

"I'm just peachy. Are you trying to kill me or something?" Ichigo grumbled, before turning to the man beside him and kept his head down. "Sir, I am so sorry. I hit an icy patch and… Yeah, I'm completely sorry. I didn't mean to run into you. I hope you're not hurt."

Ichigo finally looked at the man beside him. They locked eyes for a moment and Ichigo's face turned nearly as white as the snow around him. His mouth dropped open a little and his chocolate brown eyes grew wide. Noticing Ichigo's mortified and terrified look Amon turned to study the man as well. The man was checking his glasses for any damage. He slipped them back on and Amon's heart shot into his throat. His face quickly mimicked Ichigo's.

"A-Arima Kisho, sir! Let me h-help you up to your f-feet," Amon said, putting out his gloved hand to the famed investigator. "You're not hurt are you, sir?"

"I'm fine. Just a little surprised is all," he got up on his own and knocked the dirty snow from the back of his long coat.

He turned back to Ichigo who sat on the ground as stiff as board. He looked just as frozen as the ice around him. The student looked absolutely mortified and was shaking a good bit. Was it from the cold or his nerves? It was impossible to tell. Arima gave his neck a hearty rub and cleared his throat.

"Young man, you—Hm?" Arima blinked in surprise.

Ichigo shot back up the hill like the ice wasn't even there and vanished from sight back into the building. Arima and Amon stood in the cold air a little more than a little confused.

"And that happened…" Amon drawled, awkward rubbing the back of neck as he turned to look Arima again. "I-I do apologize for my classmate. Kurosaki isn't exactly the greatest person on campus. Are sure you're all right, sir?"

"Yes. No actual harm done," Arima replied, picking up his briefcase from the ground. "If you'll excuse me I'm already running late for a lecture."

Arima gave a slight head nod and walked around Amon. Amon quickly snapped his head back towards the building and quickly made his way up the hill. He ripped open the door and looked around the hall. He found Ichigo sitting in a little break area.

"What was that back there, Pumpkin Head?" Amon snapped, stomping up to Ichigo. "You left me there alone. I was very much embarrassed."

"You? Embarrassed? You're not the one that went sledding with the guy," Ichigo bit back, getting to his feet but quickly fell back into is seat. His face still looking rather pale. "Go away. I don't feel like looking at your ugly mug. If you hadn't pushed me that wouldn't have happened."

"You started it. You pushed first!"

"I barely gave you a push. You out and out shoved me!"

"Just get up and let's get to class before we end up late."

"I'm not going. Go on your own, Mr. Eyebrows."

"Don't be a pain in the ass. Get up and let's go, Pumpkin Head. We don't have that much time left."

"I'll get up when I feel like it."

Amon quickly grabbed Ichigo's arm and jerked him out of his seat. Ichigo stumbled to his feet before landing on the tile floor.

"Get up," Amon snapped, jerking Ichigo again.

"Stop, pulling on me," Ichigo snapped, trying to pull his arm back.

"Just get to your feet and let's go. You're acting like a toddler," Amon hissed, pulling a little harder to get Ichigo to his feet. "Get to your feet!"

"I can't! It's not that I won't, it's that I can't," Ichigo snapped, glaring up at Amon. "Look! I hurt my ankle when I hit that ice pile! I didn't pay it much mind until I took off running up the hill again."

Ichigo pulled up his pant leg and rolled down his sock. It was clear his right ankle was swelling and was started to turn a nice shade of red.

"You could have just told me that from the start instead of doing this," Amon snapped, reached down and helped Ichigo to stand. "I'll take you to the nurse."

"I can go on my own. The office isn't that far. After all you don't want to be late for class," Ichigo snorted, pulling away. "It's just a sprain. It's not like a broke it."

"Drop this punk ass attitude! We'll be in more trouble if I just let you go on your own," Amon stated, pulling Ichigo back over to his side and helped support the man's weight. "We're to help each other when we can and you know it. So, just accept my help whether you want it or not."

"Oh, so now you want to help me? But you couldn't help before with studying?"

"That's completely different! Don't turn this around on me!"

The two glared at each other for a couple of moments.

"You realized this is your fault, didn't you?" Ichigo smirked.

"Yes as much as I hate to admit it," Amon grumbled.

Amon adjusted Ichigo's weight and the two started the trek towards the nurse's office. They didn't say much of anything for a little while. Ichigo drew in a slight breath. He might as well say it.

"Thank you."

Amon looked at him for a second before looking the other way.

"And… I'm sorry."

Kaneki opened the door to the café. Man, school just seemed to drag on today so he hoped work would go by faster. He waved to Irimi as she handed out some coffees to a table. He yawned as he headed to the back to change into his work clothes. He couldn't wait to get home and finally get the sleep he needed. That's what he got for staying up late to work on an already late paper. He quickly got changed.

This was going to be a long afternoon. He stepped onto the café floor, tying his apron on. He paused as he spotted Ichigo's odd little house guest buying a couple of cheesecake slices from Koma at the register. Koma was in the middle of boxing them up. The boy didn't even seem to notice Kaneki. The kid was a strange one. He barely saw the child but wondered who he really was. There just something that was off about him. Ichigo never said much about him either. Just that he was an old friend of Karakura.

An old friend? The boy wasn't that old. He looked like 8 or so. From what Kaneki gathered Ichigo had been an investigator for many years. So if the boy was from Karakura he had to have just a little baby when Ichigo left, right? Kaneki moved a little closer to the counter and the boy still didn't seem to notice him.

Kaneki noticed that Koma seemed a little uneasy, while waiting on the boy. Kaneki quickly walked around the counter in hopes of finally meeting the boy proper. Hopefully this time this ghostly child would hang around long enough to talk. Most times Kaneki saw him he'd just vanish back into the apartment without a word.

"Here, you go, young man," Koma said, reaching over the counter and handed the boy the little cardboard box by the handle. "I hope you enjoy."

"Thank you," the boy said, taking the cheesecake and turned to leave.

"W-wait," Kaneki said, hurrying past Koma. "Hold on a moment. Pl-please."

The boy only glanced at Kaneki from over his shoulder. Now that he finally had to kid's attention what he wanted to say just seemed to slip from his mind and rapidly.

"What?" the kid asked sharply, turning to face Kaneki directly. "Are you just going to stare at me?"

"Uh… No. That is… I-I see you often but I've never talked to you b-before," Kaneki awkwardly rubbed his neck. "I've never been properly introduced to you. I'm—"

"Kaneki Ken. Yes, I am fully aware of who you are," the boy said flatly as Kaneki looked startled by his bluntness.

Even Koma seemed a little taken aback by the bluntness of the white haired child.

"Not overly friendly, are you, kiddo?" Koma put on a weak smile and the boy looked rather irksome at the final word.

"Depends on the person," the boy stated, cooly. "I'm very judgmental of people. I'm not afraid to admit it."

"Is that so?" Koma huffed, crossing his arms and looked the boy up a down a little more before taking a step back. He unraveled his arms again and pointed at the boy much to the child's dismay. "Wait! I-I think I know you. You're that little boy that hit Tsukishima in the face with that apple the other day."

Kaneki looked Koma in shock and then whipped his head back around to the smirking boy.

"I regret nothing," the boy leered.

"Haha! I thought so! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time," Koma chuckled. "That whole scene was priceless!"

"Glad you had your entertainment," the boy said looking between them. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to head back."

He quickly turned on his toes and headed for the door again. The boy opened the door and that was that. The boy was gone. Koma sighed and looked at Kaneki. The young waiter shrugged a little.

"You know that little guy?" Koma asked.

"Not really," Kaneki shook his head. "I see him often here lately at the apartments but I don't actually know him."

"Well, he knew you, obviously," Koma said. "He made that quite clear. Do you know his name at least?"

"I actually don't," Kaneki shook his head. "He keeps to himself for the most part. He's staying just a few doors down from me.."

"No offense to him but he's a bit on the creepy side," Koma said, turning back to the register. "Maybe that's just me."

"N-no, I kind of feel the same way," Kaneki sighed, reaching into a drawer and pulled his pen and paper to take orders. "Um, Koma…? How old do you think he is?"

"Well, clearly he's still in grade school. I'm guessing around 7 or 8," Koma mused. "Why?"

"He just… I don't know… He just doesn't seem to act like his age," Kaneki said. "I don't know how to explain it."

"I noticed that, too. He carried himself in a very interesting way. He's not awkward like a child should be, physically or mentally. I noticed he didn't like me referring to him as a child or being talked to as though he was one. He almost seemed like a mini adult to be honest."

Koma and Kaneki looked at each other for a few brief seconds and then at the closed front door.

"Heh, heh… Right, a mini adult," Kaneki half laughed. "That's, uh, good one."

"Yeah, that was a little out there, wasn't it?" Koma gave the same nervous laugh. "Clearly you must have seen his parents so…"

"I-I've never seen his parents."

Koma blinked.

"Then… Who's he staying with? Aunt? Uncle?"

"Nooo…"

"So who's his guardian?"

"I'd r-rather not say…" Kaneki said, turning to walk around the counter. "You know, Kaya's been watching us for a while now. I really should start taking some orders before she comes over and fusses at us."

"Yeah, we don't want to incur her wrath," Koma said, letting out a long sigh. "Back to work we go."

Toka walked into her kitchen just staring at the horrible sight before her. Soap suds were just pouring out of her dishwasher. She turned to look over Hinami who looked rather shameful and guilty all at once.

"Care to explain this one?" Touka asked, hurrying over to the dishwasher and turned it off.

"We ran out of those little packets so I thought regular dish soap would work just as well," Hinami said, keeping her head.

Toke opened the dishwasher and large tuffs of soap suds flew out like fluffy clouds. Everything was just soaked in suds. What a mess this was going to be to clean up.

"We don't make that much of a mess. You could have just washed them by hand," Toka almost snapped. "It's just mostly cups. Get the mop and bucket from the closet."

Hinami disappear but quickly returned with the desired items. She handed the mop to Toka but Toka handed it right back.

"Your mess," Toka said, carefully stepping back from the slippery catastrophe.

Hinami sighed and quickly got to work on mopping up.

"Toka, I'm really sorry about this," Hinami said, giving Toka a pouty face.

"Just remember next time not to put actual soap in," Toka sighed. "I understand that it was an accident. I can't stay mad at you for that."

"I'll remember next time! I won't do this again! I promise," Hinami said, getting back to mopping and soaking up the soapy slop.

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"Toka! What's wrong with the washer?" Hinami yelled as Toka came running.

Toka looked at the top loader washing machine. It was rattling and thumping something horrible. It was even moving ever so slightly along the floor. The older ghoul rubbed the sides of her head.

"You didn't load it right. It's off balance," Toka said, running over to the machine and turned it off.

She opened the lid and looked at the mess with in. There was still a lot of water in the drum. She got to work trying to figure out what to pull out and how to rearrange the clothes. She pulled out a couple of sopping wet bath towels and put them in a basket. She arranged the other items and closed the lid again. She turned a dial and pressed a button. The machine wasn't as off balance as before but it still wasn't perfect.

"I'm sorry. I thought I loaded it right," Hinami said, nervously biting her lip. "It was an accident."

Toka fought the urge to groan. It was still thumping but didn't have that much longer to go. She looked at the washer and then at Hinami.

"C'mere," Toka said, making a come gesture.

Hinami walked up to Toka and kept her head down. Was she going to get a scolding this time? This was her second screw up this week. First the dishwasher and now the washing machine. To her surprise Toka picked her up in one swift movement and plopped her little butt down on the thumping machine. The noise wasn't quite a loud now that Hinami was sitting on it.

"Just stay like that until it finishes," Toka said as Hinami's whole body tremble with the machine.

"T-T-To-o-k-k-a-a-a! Wh-wh-y a-am I-I-I s-si-it-ting-g o-on th-thi-is th-thing-g?"

"Noise reduction," Toka replied. "Just stay put. Your weight keeps it from rocking so much."

"D-d-oo I-I h-h-have to-to st-a-ay l-l-i-ike thi-is-s?"

"Yep, just stay put until it finishes," Toka quickly turned and left Hinami alone sitting on the raging machine.

"Sh-sh-e-e is-s so-o m-m-mad a-at m-me-ee," Hinami grumbled, riding the shaking washing machine. Although, I kind of like this. This is actually really fun! Better not tell her that.

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"Toka, please don't be mad!"

"What did you do now?!"

Hinami held out a broken TV remote. Toka looked at the cracked plastic device. An eyebrow twitched in aggravation.

"It was—"

"It was an accident! I got it! Now how did you break this?" Toka snatched the remote from Hinami's hand.

"I dropped it on the floor so I stepped back to look for it but I stepped on it instead," Hinami whimpered, rubbing the back of her head. "I'm sorry. I really am."

Toka let out a long groaning growl as she walked over to the trash and dumped in the broken remote.

"Damn. Now I'll have to buy a new one," Toka grumbled and turned to look at Hinami. "And I don't get paid until next week."

"It really was an accident," Hinami said, turning her head to look at the floor.

"Please stop breaking things in my apartment," Toka almost snapped. "I happen to like my apartment and intact, preferably. You've already made a mess of the dishwasher, my washing machine is about shot, and now the remote is broken into pieces."

"I am so sorry! I'm not doing this on purpose, I swear," Hinami said, turning to look back up at Toka.

"I know you're not! Just quit trying to break everything of mine!"

"I'll be extra careful from now on!"

"Please do."

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Toka looked at the scented candle in her hands as she walked in the front door. Yoriko had given it to her as a gift. Apparently Yoriko had won a raffle full of candles, incents, and oil diffusers. There was no way Yoriko was going to use all them so she handed off some items to classmates. Toka ended up with a jar candle that was a sickeningly sweet strawberry scent. She couldn't say no to her friend and accepted the gift.

She highly doubted she was going to light it. Human food scents were rather nasty and artificial scents were the worst. She should have asked for a floral. Too late now, she was stuck with what she had. As it was Toka really wasn't big on candles to begin with because she hated most scents. She looked at the jar again and set it down on a shelf.

She stared at it for a couple of moments and let out a long sigh. She hated not using it. She picked it back up and walked over to cabinet looking for matches she used for the oil lamps when the power went out. She found a box and pulled it out. She set the jar down on the kitchen counter and struck a match. She'd just burn it for a couple of minutes. What harm could it do? If Yoriko came over she wanted it to look like she had used it a least once.

"C'mon now… Light," she was struggling to get the wick to light. She titled the candle on its side. "Don't do this, you stupid thing."

She blew out the first match and struck a second. She tried again. It looked the wick was finally lit. She set it up right looking at the tiny flame slowly get a little bigger. Well, it was finally lit. She could already smell it. No doubt Hinami would come in soon to investigate to odd—

"Eeeeyow," Toka screeched forgetting briefly about the lit match in her hand.

She half tossed the match from her burn fingers. That hurt. She looked at them. That was stupid of her. She turned to look at the candle again as little more smoke entered her line of sight along with a strong burning smell. She quickly spun her head around looking at a roll of paper towels that were now on fire.

"You've got to be kidding me," she shrieked, trying to figure how to get the roll over into the sink. "I need something!"

It wasn't even that far but the towels had caught fire quickly. She needed something to knock them towards the sink so she could put them out.

"Move," Hinami shouted, grabbing the spray nozzle from the sink.

She flipped on the faucet and pulled the hose as far as it could stretch. She pressed the lever on the nozzle and quickly started the drench the flaming towels. She got them soaked enough that Toka was finally able to toss them into the sink. A few seconds later they finally got the charcoal black towels to extinguish with a loud hiss. Smoke and bits of wispy ash danced in the air. They both let out a long sigh of relief. Crisis diverted.

"Are you all right, Toka?" Hinami asked in a panic, looking up at the frazzled ghoul to her right. "Are you hurt any?"

"N-no… I'm okay," Toka let out a very long shaky sigh of relief. "That just sc-scared the crap out of me."

"That's good you're not hurt," Hinami gave a nasty grin and held up the nozzle.

A moment later Toka got a face full of ice cold water. Hinami blasted Toka pointblank with the spray nozzle. Toka choked a little as she stepped back, trying to get the water out of her face. She slipped a little and just caught herself with the counter. Hinami finally let up and gave Toka a scolding glare. Toka wiped the water from her eyes and forced some out of her nose with a couple hard huffs. She looked at Hinami as the girl still held the nozzle out like a gun close to her face.

"Cough! Cough! Hinami?! Wh-what's gotten into you?" Toka coughed, finally sinking to the wet floor, shaking the water from her hair. "Cough! That's not funny!"

"You're not perfect either, Toka! Don't ever give me a hard time about making a mistake again! You got it?!" Hinami snapped, giving Toka another good dousing in the face. "At least I never tried to burn down the building!"

"Cough! Okay, okay! I-I got it! Cough! Cough," Toka choked, wiping her face again. "I'm sorry! Geez, just stop spraying me! Cough!"

"I'm so glad we had this conversation," Hinami smiled, putting the nozzle back where it belonged.

Toka took a few good breaths. The smell of smoke was still strong and she could also smell that damn candle. She got up and quickly blew it out. She wasn't making that mistake again.

"Ah-hem," Hinami cleared her throat.

Toka turned around to see Hinami with the mop and bucket. Toka quickly knew where this was going.

"Your mess," the girl smiled, happily handing Toka the old mop.

Toka let out a long groaning sigh of defeat and quickly started to mop up all the water on the kitchen floor. She never thought anything would come back and bite her in the ass.

(A/N I'm sorry I haven't updated the actual story in a while. I just haven't had much inspiration. I have the idea of what I want but I can't seem to convey it in writing. I decided to do another set of shorts until I can figure out what to do. The shorts on their own took me a while to come up with ideas.

(So… I'm sure I just told you my age by mentioning a whole bunch of anime some of you have never heard of before. Like Akira, Samurai Troopers, Bobobo, and Trigun. Those are some rather old titles to be sure. I decided to take a jab at some things about anime that has irked me in the past. The Lady's Sayfart is a real thing, by the way. I noticed it while binge watching Samurai Troopers on Crunchy Roll. I also thought it would be fun to mention Akira and Trigun as Johnny Yong Bosch did voices in those animes as well. Johnny is the voice of Ichigo in the English release just so you know what I'm getting at. I know some of these aren't as funny as the others but I wanted to show a little more interaction between Amon and Ichigo. I hope you enjoyed this and I'll try to wrap up the actual chapter in the next posting. I know it's really past due. Later.)

Millie M. Banshee

P.S. The washer bit was actually inspired by real life. Growing up our washing machine was always off balance (cheap machine) especially during the spin cycle. Mom would put me on top for fun when I was little but it eventually turned into a necessity. The machine got worse over the years and I had to sit on it to keep it from moving around and rocking the hell out of the trailer. I did it straight into high school. Fun times. The dishwasher was a true to life story as well. My husband's grandmother didn't know that regular dish soap can't go in the dishwasher and there was a sudsy explosion in his parent's kitchen. He found it and had to clean up the mess. He didn't know whether to get mad at his grandmother or laugh at it.