That afternoon, Suzuya watched Eto teach the kids more Kanji from where he had distanced himself in the kitchen. The woman had an extraordinary way of reaching the children and making them understand. The investigator caught himself smiling as he watched. As soon as he realized it, he had turned the smile back into a scowl and decided to guilt trip himself on it at a more opportune time.

It was now night and Kaito and Hitomi were asleep in bed. Suzuya sat on his couch, eyes glued to the television. He looked up for a brief moment when Eto entered the room. The half ghoul sat down next to him, and his chest tightened.

"It's late," Suzuya commented, shutting the tv off.

"Meaning?" Eto asked, looking at him with glazed eyes.

Juuzou blinked. "Aren't you tired?"

"No," she said, sinking down against a couch pillow. "If anyone looks tired, it's you."

"I'm not tired," Suzuya protested. "Just stressed."

"About?"

Juuzou scowled. "Work."

"Oh," Eto said, smirking. "I see. Something to do with the fact that you're not doing your job? That you're betraying the CCG?"

Suzuya stared at the woman with wide eyes. "H—how—Wha—what—."

"Don't act so surprised," Eto said, giving him a sly smile. "I'm the One Eyed Owl, remember? I know what's going on. And I know that you've been letting some ghouls escape."

Embarrassed, Juuzou looked away. "You wouldn't understand."

"I think I would," Eto said softly. "You're realizing that ghouls aren't exactly the monsters you thought we were."

Suzuya lowered his head, ashamed. "Yeah," he said softly.

Eto pursed her lips. "I'm glad you see that now."

A tedious silence followed. A clock ticked in the hallway, and the noise of the streets below seeped into the quiet apartment.

"Did you really mean what you said?" Juuzou asked, voice so low that he wasn't even sure that he'd said the words.

"About what?"

To nervous to speak, Suzuya pointed at the stitches in the half ghoul's arm.

Eto bit her lip and hung her head, eyes watery. "I meant it."

Juuzou sighed, the butterflies in his stomach worsening. "Eto, I…"

"What?" she said, getting closer to him.

"Did you really miss me?" Suzuya asked, trying to push his own confusion away.

"Every day," Eto said, voice broken. "In the morning, in the night. At night it was the worst. All those sleepless nights…"

"Some were sleepless for less dignified reasons," Suzuya muttered bitterly.

Eto frowned. "I was just trying to get over you, ya know. Naki and I… It never was anything special. But I really did miss you. And that's how I realized the other thing."

"What other thing?"

Eto sighed. "Missing you was my own heart's way of telling me I still loved you."

Juuzou's heart twisted.

"All those nights," Eto continued, tears flowing down her face. "I stayed up crying. Begging to nobody in particular that I would wake up and it would all be a bad dream. I was so lonely. I wanted to die."

Tears flooded Juuzou's eyes. He took a shaking hand and touched the side of the woman's face and guided it so that he could look her in the eye. He wiped one of her tears away with his thumb.

"Eto," he said, voice shaking and tears falling. "I'm so sorry."

The half ghoul's eyes widened in shock. Then, for the first time in many years, she flung her arms around him and held the man tight. Her sobs shook her small body, and Suzuya held her close to him.

"I'm so sorry," she wailed. "For lying to you. About who I was. I'm so so sorry. I love you. I love you."

Juuzou buried his nose in her wild hair. "I love you too."

Eto gripped him tighter at those words. She eventually broke the hug and stared at the man, noses so close they could almost touch.

"Eto I—."

Suzuya was silenced by the woman's soft lips. At first he panicked, but the way she kissed him… I was all to familiar. He had missed it. So, he kissed her back. He felt warm and happy, the best he had felt in a very long time.

After a minute or so, he forced himself to break the kiss. Suzuya stared into her beautiful green eyes.

"Eto," he said softly. "Let's get out of this place."

"What about the kids?" she whispered.

Juuzou shrugged. "They spend all day alone in the woods. They'll be fine."

"Where are we going to go?" Eto asked, tugging at his collar.

Juuzou planted a kiss on her nose and smiled, wiping away her tears. "The Kesshobei Hotel."

Eto chuckled. "Why that one?"

"For old time's sake," Suzuya said, kissing her again.