Suzuya peered around the corner of the filthy alley. His eyes travelled around, looking for any signs of children. All he saw was a dumpster, a soggy refrigerator box, and a couple of wooden crates. He was about to walk away when he saw that box shift. The investigator narrowed his eyes and crept slowly over and peered inside.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw what was inside. Two small children were curled up, pressing their bodies together. They were both shivering in their sleep, and water dripped on them from the soggy cardboard.

Juuzou stared at them. These were his children. His heart ached with pity; how long had they been living like this? His heart was going a million miles per hour. Hands shaking, he lightly shook the sleeping children awake.

Both of them slowly opened their eyes, and then jolted fully awake.

"Who are you?" the boy asked, pushing himself as far away from Juuzou as possible.

"Woah!" the girl said, yanking on Suzuya's arm. "How'd you get all those Xs?" she asked, pointing to the stitches on his arm.

At that, Juuzou could have passed out. That was the first thing that these children's mother had ever said to him.

"A—are you Hitomi and Kaito?"

Suzuya asked the question, but he already knew they were his. The girl had wide eyes, big grin, and white hair. The only thing that that tied her resemblance to her mother was her green eye color. The boy on the other hand, was a spitting image of his mother. He had the same hair color, face and eye shape, and, well, practically everything. The only thing different was that he shared Juuzou's blood red eyes.

"Yeah!" the girl squeaked. "Who are you?"

Suzuya's mouth went dry. He had not thought through what he would tell them.

"U—um," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I—I didn't know you were born until a few days ago. I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Why?" Kaito asked in a defensive tone.

"Well, um, I guess you could say that we're family."

Hitomi's eyes widened. "Are you our Dad?"

Juuzou swallowed hard. "Yeah, I am."

"Dad!" Hitomi said jumping onto the investigator. Even though she was small, her force made Suzuya fall back from where he was crouching.

"Hitomi, no!" Kaito barked, yanking on his sister.

"What?"

"What if he's lying?"

"He's not," Hitomi said, wrapping her arms around a still shocked Suzuya.

Juuzou stood up, holding his daughter. He gently set her down, and then squatted back down so he could see Kaito.

"Hi there," Juuzou said, not honestly sure what to say to his… son. "I know you don't want to see me, and you probably hate me for not getting you sooner—."

"You gave up us," Kaito butted in.

"No, your mother gave you up," Suzuya explained. "I didn't know she had you."

"But when you found out?" Kaito asked slowly.

"I came and got you right away," Suzuya said, giving his son a soft smile. "Now it's cold and wet here. I have an apartment. Would you rather stay there?"

"Come on Kaito!" Hitomi butt in. "Think bout it! No more cold and rain and scary people!"

Kaito hesitated, but finally nodded and wriggled out of the box. He brushed himself off and stood next to his sister, eyes on the ground.

"Where's your house?" Hitomi asked. Contrary to her brother, she was fidgeting in excitement; her green eyes were wide and a very Juuzou like grin was plastered on her face.

"Follow me," Suzuya said, turning to leave the alley.

"Wait!" Hitomi said, clinging to her father's suspenders.

"What?"

"Piggy back ride," she said, sticking her hands into the air.

"Oh, um, okay," Suzuya said. He squatted down and allowed his daughter to wriggle onto his back. When he was sure she was on, he stood up and began walking towards his apartment, Kaito trailing behind him.

"Bye bye box," Hitomi whispered. "Bye bye trash can. Bye bye wood boxes."

They walked through the streets for a little bit, and finally arrived at Suzuya's apartment. By then, the investigator's back was breaking.

"Gotta letcha down now," Juuzou said. Hitomi scrambled down, and both twins anxiously waited for the man to open the door.

The door swung open, and the children rushed inside. They giggled and ran around in the apartment, jumping on the couch and knocking things over.

"Stop!" Suzuya said in a desperate attempt to control them. "Stop!"

The twins stopped running around for a long enough time for Juuzou to catch them and plop them down on the couch.

"Listen," Juuzou said. "I need to go to work."

"Ghouls have jobs?" Kaito asked, cocking his head.

Suzuya stared at Kaito blankly. "I'm not a ghoul," he paused. "Your mother is.

"Are we going to meet her?" Hitomi asked.

"I don't know," Juuzou said, grabbing his quinque case. "But I really have to go to work. So please do break anything, okay?"

"Okay!" the twins said in unison.

Suzuya gave them a wary look and walked out the door, trying not to freak out at the fact he had half ghoul children and that they were in his home.

"What do you think of Dad?" Hitomi asked Kaito after their father had left.

"A little scary," Kaito said. "But nice. He's not the one that left us all alone."

"Kaito?"

"Yeah?"

"How's he gonna take care of us?"

"What?"

"He's a human. We need human meat. How's that gonna work?"

Kaito was silent. "I didn't think bout that."