Kuki woke up in the middle of the afternoon. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept this late - or if he ever had in his entire life. Pulling his black v-neck shirt over his head, he walked out of the room with his mind set on finding his girlfriend.

Voices and laughter from downstairs floated up to the second floor catching his attention. Looking over the railing, he saw the entire family sitting in the living room.

Mitch and Eliza sat on opposite ends of the L-shaped, dark brown leather sectional sofa. He was reading a sports magazine. She was thumbing through a book on interior design. Their son and daughter sat on the cream colored carpet in the middle of the room playing a board game. Seeing kids their age playing a game that did not involve a cell phone or some kind of console was weird.

Miyu sat with her legs curled under her in a puffy tan colored rocking recliner. She sipped on a cup of coffee while reading a book. The chair she had chosen was set slightly apart from the others, further separated from them by a glass and wood coffee table.

As he gazed at her, Kuki's heart weighed heavily in his chest. Her family was so different from her; so painfully stereotypical they were too good to be true. Were they wearing clever, elaborate disguises?

Miyu had used a chameleon like subterfuge herself, changing her hair and eyes to fade more easily into human society. He had to admit he was not sure what a succubus was supposed to look like. He wasn't even sure of her true nature as a succubus having only caught glimpses of it through some of her interactions and the disjointed memories she shared with him.

Miyu had hidden behind a mask of human normalcy for many years, caging the monster inside for only a few to see. Actually, she was not too different than a lot of ghouls. Most of them acted and looked as human as possible; choosing to stay under the radar of fear driven human beings or hate driven ghouls so they could live their lives in peace. Why was being human so great and being anything else so bad?

When Miyu looked up at him, her golden orbs fastening onto his, Kuki could not stop himself from smiling. He mouthed hello to her, and she returned it with a flirtatious little wink that made his heart beat faster like a school boy holding hands for the first time.

"Oh, Urie, when you're done flirting with my daughter, you should come down and join us," Mitch Garrison's voice boomed.

Titters of laughter ran through the living room. Miyu's cheeks turned pink, and she smiled up at him shyly.

Kuki could feel his face warming with embarrassment as he walked down the stairs. He had been caught flirting with his girlfriend by her father. The flirtation had been innocent thankfully. If the man knew other things he had done to his daughter, he would not be so willing to joke around. But how could her father not know what was going on between the two of them?

"Are you all right?" Miyu asked, standing up to give Kuki a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm fine," he replied, hugging her to his side not wanting to be too amorous in front of the family.

"Are you hungry? There's a plate for you from lunch in the refrigerator," Eliza offered, lowering the foot of her recliner.

"Oh, no, don't get up," Miyu insisted, taking him by the arm. "I'll take him to the kitchen. I need another cup of coffee anyway."

"Are you okay?" he questioned her when they were alone in the kitchen.

"I'm just ready to get this over with and go home," she mumbled, getting his plate of lasagna out of the fridge.

"Did something happen?"

"No, not yet."

"What do you mean not yet?"

"After you eat, can we take a walk?"

More walking? Please, no, I'd rather not, he wanted to whine out loud.

"Of course," he replied.

Apparently she needed to talk about something bothering her immensely for her to be willing to tromp all over the place some more.

Miyu took his plate from the microwave and set it on the counter in front of one of the bar stools. He took his cue and sat down while she poured them both a cup of coffee. Then she took the plastic lid off of the pan beside the coffee pot. She pulled out a massive cinnamon roll, the thick white icing dribbling down the sides and onto her fingers.

"Hungry?" he queried with a raised eyebrow as the abundant icing continued to flow down onto her hand.

"I have to start preparing for the ritual tomorrow," she said, licking the sugary white goop from her palm before it reached her wrist.

Suddenly his jeans got a lot tighter. Only she could effect him this way by performing such a mundane act as lapping up excess icing.

"You know if you want to go back to the bedroom after this I can lick that off for you."

"Mmmm," she moaned, taking a bite of the fluffy bread part.

Arousal hit him like a punch in the gut making hm the tiniest bit nauseated.

"As tempting as that offer is, I must decline at the moment. But definitely later," she added with a waggle of her eyebrows.

"You can be really sexy sometimes," he purred, resisting the desire to catch the icing droplet at the corner of her mouth with his tongue.

Miyu took another big bite of the sweet treat.

"Are you insinuating I'm not always sexy?" she asked, her speech garbled by the huge chunk of roll he could see rolling around in her mouth as she spoke.

"I would never do such a thing. I'll tell you outright. Sometimes you're gross. You're being disgusting right now. Ow!" he howled in feigned injury when she punched him in the arm.

"These are my absolute favorite. Especially when Eliza makes them. She baked them for dessert today so I could eat my fill before tomorrow."

"What happens tomorrow?'

"The purge," she groaned, rolling her eyes. "To cleanse my body and spirit."

"Does that mean what I think it means?"

"Uh huh."

"Gross."

"Yeah, so you might want to disappear tomorrow. Go hang out with June and Philip. Tomorrow is not going to be a good day for me."

"No. With you is exactly where I need to be. Especially on a really bad day," he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "I'll be talking to you from the other side of the bathroom door, but I'll stay with you...for better or for worse."

"You make it sound like we're married," she chuckled wryly.

"Do you want to be married?" he asked, staring straight ahead instead of at her.

Kuki shoved a forkful of the food in his mouthful but could not taste it. His belly quivered like a bowl bowl full of gelatin as the deafening silence extended between them. He kept eating despite the wave of anxiety induced nausea washing over him making him wish he had never said anything.

"Yeah, I do," she answered finally. "Especially to you. Are you asking?"

"Maybe. Are you saying yes?" He found the craftsmanship of the cabinets in the kitchen absolutely fascinating as he continued to concentrate on them to avoid eye contact with her.

"Maybe."

Kuki finished his food without another word spoken from himself or from her. Once again, he was grateful for her uncanny ability to know when to stay quiet.

As they put on their jackets to go outside, he had the sinking feeling they had left one emotionally demanding conversation to begin another one as they strolled along the gravel path winding through the village.

"What do you think about this place?" Miyu questioned him, their footsteps crunching over the small stones.

"Honestly?" He glanced at her for affirmation she wanted a truthful opinion. He continued when she nodded. "I believe that nothing and no one around here are as they seem."

"You're right about that," she confirmed.

Kuki waited to ask his next question when Miyu paused, returning the wave of an older couple who were sitting on their front porch on a swing.

"As I'm sure you've guessed, their present appearances are facades. I don't know why they feel they have to hide in front of you," she mused aloud.

"They don't know me. I'm not one of them like you are." He noted her snort of protest but pressed on without questioning it. "Maybe it makes them feel better to pretend to be regular humans. Or maybe it's just habit. Who knows? It really doesn't matter."

People were sitting on their front porches or talking to their neighbors at the edges of their fence-less yards. Children played on the front lawns and teenagers blasted music from back porches or decks. There was conversation and laughter filling the air along with the delicious scents of slow cooking dinners. It was like watching a scene from many, many years ago when community and family meant more than convenience and social status.

"Once this ritual is over, I want to go home as soon as possible," she stated bluntly as they stepped into the treeline and continued walking away from the village. "I don't think I'll ever come back."

"Why?" he asked, taking her by the arm to turn her to face him. "What's wrong?"

Kuki pressed his palm to her cool cheek, lifting her head so he could see her eyes. The light was slowly coming back into them. Being here in the mountain air among her kind seemed to helping her already. The skin between her eyes pinched into little lines of worry.

"I think something happened to my mother here," she said.

"Like what? Hey," he murmured, pulling her into his arms when big pearl like tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

"I don't know. I don't think my father even knows about what happened."

After the conversation Kuki had with her father, he would agree. As far as Mitch Garrison knew, his wife had fled from the colony to return to her own family in Japan not giving a damn about him.

"I think these people said horrible things to her. I believe they did something to make her leave and never ever come back," Miyu sniffled, hanging on to him with her arms hooked under his arms and over his shoulders.

"Your father believes your mother left because she wanted a different life for you. One far apart from this one, from this place," he said, embracing her tightly when her body started to shake.

"Yeah, well, if they were hateful enough to run her out of the colony and away from the man she loved I can understand why," she muttered irritably.

"Do you want to find out what happened? You can, can't you? By consuming their emotions and reliving their memories or something?" He could barely breathe she was squeezing him so fiercely.

"No. We can block our emotions and memories from each other." She sighed loudly; a sound full of disappointment and defeat. "Truth be told, I don't think I want to know. I can't imagine how badly my mother must have been hurt or how much this would hurt my father. Sometimes what we don't know can't hurt us. And it's better that way...right?"

"Y-yeah," he stuttered, unsure if he agreed or not because it definitely depended on the situation.

He contemplated what she might be hiding from him, this other part of her that several people had hinted at but never bothered to elaborate upon. He hated that men like Arima and Kaneki knew about that part of her, but she had not shared it with him. This cleansing ritual had the potential to reveal all of her best kept secrets to him.

"Kuki, there's something I need to tell you." She unhinged her arms from his body, taking a step back from him.

Kuki's stomach tied itself in knots at the unusually dire tone of her voice. They had serious conversations before but he could not recall her voice sounding quite so ominous and grim.

"Something might happen during the ritual that will change your mind about me," she said in annoyingly vague terms.

"Nothing could change the - " He immediately stopped speaking when the tears she had been holding back leaked from her eyes. His fingers gripped her upper arms tightly as if holding her to keep her from running away.

"Please, just listen. Keep the words I say to you in mind during the ceremony. If anything happens to change your feelings, just go. Don't feel like you have to talk about it or let me down gently. Just leave and never look back," she implored him, patting his chest over his heart.

"But I love you. Where will you go anyway?"

"I'll runaway somewhere. I'll stay anywhere but here. And I won't go back to Japan."

Every muscle in his abdomen clenched making him almost lose the battle to not vomit. How could she forsake both of the places she knew as home? Why would she abandon him so easily? Why is she telling him to runaway from her if something happens? If what happens? None of this was making sense.

"Nothing about you can possibly be worse than any of the ghouls you've faced. Working with Arima and Kaneki, I'm sure you've seen some of the worst monsters alive. Hell, look at the monsters those two are. Please tell me how you can be worse than them," he begged her, holding her gaze.

"I might not be worse than them, but I'm certainly among their ranks. I killed so many."

"We all have. I don't see how this - "

"Sometimes I liked it!" she yelled, cutting off his words.

Time seemed to stand still. For several exceptionally long, nerve racking minutes, they stared at each other. Even the forest creatures remained silent and the wind refrained from whispering in their ears.

"Would you hate me if I said that sometimes I enjoyed killing more than I should?" he inquired, loosening his grip when he realized his fingers were biting into her skin with bruising force.

"Kaneki asked me to come back to the CCG when we return."

God, how he loathed the breakneck speed at which she would change subjects. So there it is. One thing she had been hiding from him. Wow...the truth is painful. No wonder she was acting so strangely and horribly distracted the night they were preparing to leave.

Anger simmered inside of him, but he refused to allow it to boil over without hearing everything she had to say first. Then he would decide exactly who to be angrier with and exactly how angry to be.

"He offered me the deal of being your partner. I'll work as a consultant on a case by case basis, as I chose," she added as if that was supposed to make it okay.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" he demanded, gritting his teeth to keep his words under control.

"Aren't you going to ask me what I told him?"

"Obviously you told him yes or we wouldn't be having this conversation. Why would you do such a thing?"

"Because I can be with you. And I'll be doing what I'm good at...what comes naturally," she added, lowering her eyes from his.

"Don't be stupid," he snapped, letting go of her completely before he shook her hard enough to shake some sense into her tiny little mind. "When some asshole whose been running around the city eating people and destroying lives, gets what they deserve it's fine to feel gratified that you gave it to them. You're not a natural killer. And don't give that me that bullshit that you enjoy it."

"You don't know who I was - "

"WAS!" he bellowed, shaking his finger in her face. "You're right. I don't know who you were, and I don't want to know. Just like you don't want to know about the long gone, painful events of the past that took place here with your mother. Nothing can change the past."

Miyu's shoulders shook as she began to sob in earnest.

"Are you still trying to make me hate you? To make me go away because you're scared to death of love?" Kuki asked her.

"No. Maybe. I don't know!" she cried out, holding her head in her hands and dropping to her knees. "I know we've been through this before but..."

Her words dissolved into tears which she cried with great, heaving sobs. Kuki knelt down in front of her, putting his arms around her trembling shoulders.

"Look, I know you're going through a tough time so let me be here for you. I will help you through it," he assured her.

"Oh, you're one to talk. Acting like a damn iceberg, so cold and so hard, never letting anyone get close," she snapped.

"Okay, okay, we've already established we're both a mess. We need to stop trying to rebuild the walls. That aside, I am still angry with you for not telling me about the deal with Kaneki," he admitted. "But I can't say I don't like the idea of you being by my side, watching my back at work. We'll discuss this further when we return to Tokyo."

Kuki place his finger under her chin, turning her head up to see her face. He pressed his lips to hers that were wet with her tears and salty to the taste. His mouth remained unmoving on hers, heating her cold lips with his. When her arms enclosed his neck, pulling her body into his, his lips lifted from hers slightly before pressing down firmly for a kiss.

The sweet cinnamon lingering on her tongue tickled his taste buds when it brushed across his. The appetite that took hold of him earlier while he was eating came back. His hand slipped under the edge of her fuzzy flannel shirt.

"Sorry," he apologized when his cold fingers drifted across her warm belly causing her to intake air violently with a hiss.

"It's okay," she whispered, placing her hand over his to keep him from pulling it back.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he inquired when she urged his hand upward toward her breast.

"Oh, yes," she moaned when his now warm palm covered her breast.

"Here?"

"Then where? At the house? With the whole damn family there to hear?"

"Good point."

"I wish I had worn a skirt," she grumbled, struggling with the button on her jeans.

"Me too," he groaned, taking off his jacket to lay it on the ground.

Kuki took her into his arms, giving her several short pecks on the lips then one lengthy kiss before carefully laying her back on his jacket. He unzipped her jeans, pulling them and her underwear off in one long swooping motion.

Her fingers went to the button and zipper on his black jeans when he moved between her legs. He moaned with pleasure and gratitude when she reached inside pulling him free of the uncomfortable cotton prison. Next came the even more blissful sensation of sinking into her warm, wet body that accepted him so willingly, so ready to love him.

Kuki had never had sex outside and definitely not in the cold. Luckily for him, none of his body was exposed. Her body heated his giving him all of the warmth he needed to ward off the chill of the brisk autumn breeze. She whimpered and moaned in his ear, calling his name, begging him to drive her into mind numbing bliss.

He didn't want to think about anything anymore either. Both of them thought too much which prevented them from feeling enough. Considering what she is, he found her lack of emotion at times to be ridiculously ironic.

"I love you, Kuki Urie," Miyu announced suddenly, holding his head so he would have to look at her.

Her eyes glowed like the super heated yellow flames in a raging fire. Her lips had turned blood red and demanded his kiss. He obliged, pressing his lips to hers forcefully while invading her mouth with his tongue. She was more than willing to be conquered, opening her mouth and her legs wider to accept him into her further.

"I want to marry you and love you forever," she whispered, her eyes closing slowly to block out their beautiful light. Her mouth closed then opened, forming his name in a ragged whisper when he gave her everything inside of him.

His hips thrust forward, the sweet end coming in a rush of fluid emotions. Once his body was spent, he hovered above her unable to keep from staring at her lovely face. Her cheeks were blushed from their amorous endeavors. Although her eyes were no longer glowing, they still shone brightly with happiness.

"I love you too. I can't wait to marry you. I'll make you a very happy woman," he promised.

"Oh, Kuki, you silly man," she sighed, running her fingers through his hair. "You already do."