Authors Notes: 101 followers, Hooray! You guys have no Idea how happy you've made me... Sorry this cahpter took so long to get out... Mortal Kombat X just released, and I'm having too much fun... defending earthrealm... Anywho, I love the support i've been getting with reviews and follows and favs, It's you guys that keep me motivated to keep writing these stories without you; I wouldn't even bother, Thank you all!

Update: I took the liberty to make an new cover, as I figured the last one was... well... was incredibly ugly, that is all. Enjoy.

Koutarou Amon sat at the opposite end of his superior, Kureo Mado, who kept, most likely subconsciously, drumming his hands on the glossed wood of the meeting table. He held a childlike yet sadistic grin on his bony pale face, with one eye open much wider than the other, and he kept both on one slightly pudgy man. Said man was noticeably nervous under Kureo's gaze, many times now he'd brought a, once white nut now light gray, napkin up to his forehead. Personally Koutarou couldn't blame him, Kureo, to those unfamiliar, was almost like a murderer out of a horror film, he had the look of someone who enjoy's the feel of dead skin.

"Hmmm..." Kureo purred at the man, who had just made his weekly report of the 20th ward, as he began drumming his steel suit case. Koutarou, admittedly, had been paying no attention to the report of the man, he believed Kusaba was his name, Koutarou had a tendency to day dream on occasion, normally he didn't let it interfere with his job at CCG, but for whatever reason, his mind was preoccupied... it almost felt like a bad omen to him.

"And your report, Amon?" Kureo asked, quickly turning his white haired head to his subordinate, who kept an apathetic gaze the whole time.

The black haired investigator silently, almost robot like, picked up the two layers of paper off of the glossed wood, smacked the bottom of them twice to make sure they were aligned properly and cleared his throat silently. "Numbers 720 and 722 haven't been making any particular moves. Number 721 had a a chocolate croissant and cinnamon pound cake from doughnut masters for lunch... and a hot coffee to drink."

Kureo looked down at the desk, and brought his bony fingers to his mouth, contemplating the report Amon had given. His subordinate had given a much better report than the other two investigators, who, in all honesty, were slackers at best, it seemed that due to the relative peace of the 20th ward, The investigators had become far to accustomed to peace, and their work ethics had suffered for it. He'd be sure to mention it to the 'Nest' when this investigation finished.

"There was no change in facial expression or use of the lavatory either?" Kureo inquired, getting back on topic with Koutarou. The younger male simply shook his head, causing Kureo to sigh in disappointment. "I'm worried about the coffee order, though, so let's leave the case open for now..."

Turning his gaze back to Kusaba, he pulled his brief case closer to his chest, "What about 723, 20th ward head?"

Kusaba, gulped silently, and brought his arms closer to his body, in a primal attempt to shield himself from the sharp gaze. "Ah, yes," he began shakily, "the suspect used the train and got off at the fifth station," he paused for air, "She then headed and transferred towards sight B... I lost sight of her for a moment, but I rediscovered her in front of a stone monument at documented site C." he paused once more, to catch a glimpse of Koutarou's slightly judgmental look and gulped once more. this time more audibly. "After staying for 10 or so minutes, the target began traveling on foot... she then met with an acquaintance and rood back with him to his home." The man finished off weakly, as the gaze of the two other investigators grew sharper.

Soon silence filled the room, but Mado and his underling kept their stares on the glasses wearing man, who's eye's now began to dart back and forth from Kureo to Koutarou.

"ahhh... I-is something-"

"The license plate number..." Koutarou interupted, his voice betraying his stone face with a hint of annoyance .

"W-what?"

"Did you get the license plate number?" He asked, this time clearer in his wording choices and displaying his annoyance in each word. Kureo always enjoyed scenes like this, when his subordinate put less-than-adequate investigators in their place. It not only displayed Koutarous professionalism, but his own as well. Mado smiled slightly at the man's now red face, his hair becoming unkempt from the sweat dampening it.

"Ah" Kusaba stammered with his words, trying to not sound like a fool, when he spoke... and failed miserably. "I-I'm sorry I wasn't quite able to get it down..."

Koutarou sighed, closing his eye's in annoyance, surely it wasn't that tasking to get a the license number of a car, who more than likely stopped for a good 30 seconds to let the woman in. The 20th ward sure was full of lazy good for nothings. "Well then," he began, "The 'stone monument' that you spoke of must be a grave, right?"

Koutarou pulled up two documents paper clipped together, one featuring a man with a long brown ponytail who also adorned a slight scruff on their chin, It was ghoul 696. The man-eater also wore a toothy smile... a smile that made Koutarou angry. Ghoul's shouldn't be allowed to smile, shouldn't be allowed to feel the joy of being alive, and though this one was dead, it was like he was mocking him from beyond the grave.

The other was of a woman with deep brown hair, and flower pins adorning the part of it slung over her shoulder and hall the way down to her upper dress. If she was not a possible ghoul she would have been found beautiful by the investigator, but this really wasn't the time to be acknowledging sexual urges. Unlike the male ghoul, the female wore a shy, almost fake smile, her big eye's half open, almost as if she was sad.

"If it turns out that the items on the grave are associated with ghoul 696 , then number 723 will also be confirmed as a ghoul." He explained looking at the two mediocre investigators. "Why don't you pursue things to their fullest extent?" He asked with a tone of anger.

"So... I... I SHOULD'VE DUG THROUGH A GRAVE?!" He asked, not so much appalled at the idea as he was trying to come up with an excuse. "NO WAY! IT GOES AGAINST MY MORALS!"

Koutarou was silent for a moment, and Kureo had began to snicker almost inaudibly. "Morals?" the younger of the two asked, "Morals should be least of your worries when it comes to your job. You are here to destroy that which views humans as it's prey, to defend others from these monsters. They do not have morals, They do not care about who you care about, or even consider them when they kill you... Ghouls are emotionless monsters, and to kill them you must be too."

"You really chewed him out, didn't you, Koutarou?" Mado asked as he and his underling stalked down the hallways of the 20th ward office. Kureo had noticed, that as they were leaving the room, Koutarou Amon had been giving off a less the pleased air about himself. It made Kureo happy to see such conviction in one so young, in fact he hadn't felt as motivated as Koutarou until the middle of his career, after his wife Kasuka die- no, was murdered, Kureo dedicated his life to ending that damn species. After all, what kind of species has only one food source? No, he and Koutarou were doing nature a kindness and even the ghouls themselves to some extent. Ghouls had obviously failed in evolution, just about anything that can walk on legs can eat more than one thing, but ghouls had failed to evolve beyond that... they were not needed.

"Yeah..." Koutarou replied, hardly paying attention.

"Well, I think I'll retire for the day, as expected I'm once again tired from walking... You walk to fast, Koutarou." Kureo said, as he began to diverge from their shared path, his hunched over figure even more hunched over than usual, physically showing his exhaustion.

Amon however, hardly noticed as the older man left. He had to do something about this ward... it's laid back approach to the ghouls here was cause for concern and the fact that such a careless investigator was head pissed him off royally... That lazy Kusaba said something about a stone monument, right? Well, there is a forest nearby the 20th ward, where the poor bury their dead, those who cant afford a funeral service anyway... perhaps I should go take a look.

Kaneki found himself in that same white space he was in many other nights... the same sky, the same temperature, same floor, in fact; he could even point out some clouds he'd seen before. At first it had been worrisome to him he'd begun to wonder if he was loosing his mind, or if something supernatural was happening... though now, he'd come to expect it every now and again.

The wind blew his dark hair in front of his eye's as he looked up to the sky, and once again, like all the other times he'd found himself here, he couldn't help but marvel at the beautiful sky. It was a calming blue, almost like the middle of the ocean, except far less intimidating. As per usual clouds adorned the blue, casting dark shadows on the reflective ground around him, for whatever reason he felt compelled to avoid those dark spots. He decided it was a primal fear of the dark, but he couldn't help but feel that there was another meaning to his reluctance.

And, as each time before, She appeared as well. Her hair, flowing wildly in the wind, it's purple hue dancing along an otherwise blue background, her eye's matching her follicles, and her dress also flowing. Though this time her expression was different, while she still wore the same happy, almost mocking, face that she wore there was a hint of annoyance in her features, it was faint but there.

But this time she was closer, much closer, and due to the distance change Kaneki could finally determine who it was. To be honest it shouldn't have taken this long, it should have been so hard... in fact it wasn't, he just didn't want to believe that he was seeing Rize in his mind. Maybe it was due to the trauma, maybe he was crazy, or maybe... it's because what rested inside of him... now, that was a terrifying thought.

"Ka-ne-ki..." she sung, the annoyance he thought he'd seen on her face now vocalized, if even ever so slightly. "Why haven't you been eating your meals?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip and tilting her figure in a somewhat sassy way. "It's not good for you, ya'know?" she paused too look at her purple nails, "And while those sugar cubes do help a bit... you and I both know that they won't last forever..."

Kaneki looked away from the purple haired girl, her words made him begin to worry. He knew she was right, he had to eventually eat a human... if he wanted to live. But that begged another question, did he want to live like this anymore? Unlike Eto he was a freak, an artificial monster made by careless surgery by an aging doctor... But, did he wan't to die? He didn't like the idea of causing Kaya, Enji, Touka, Yoshimura, and most of all Eto any pain, due to his inability to adapt.

He looked back up to wear Rize stood, trying to see what she may have been thinking, he knew it was stupid, it was just a dream, but still he wanted to know...

What he saw, however, frightened him. There was a perfectly straight dark line across the ground, on his side, the light remained normal almost as if nothing had changed, nothing at all... On the other side, however, rage a storm, it was dark, the winds swirled, and in the distance rain crashed down upon the earth, it was like starring into the apocalypse, and just a few feet away from the line... was Rize, smiling ever so gently and adjusting her glasses. "Until next time, Ken..."

Kaneki opened his eye's rather calmly, despite his dream, and to his delight found himself in his bed, The soft mattress supporting him, the blanket covering him and keeping him warm... with Eto as extra warmth. During the past few days or so, Eto had more frequently been sharing a bed with him, at first he found it uncomfortable, especially due to the gender difference and her tendency to hold him while he slept, seemingly not caring how much he felt of her on him. Though speaking of which, she'd also been becoming more and more present with him. She practically didn't let him go anywhere without her knowing where he was heading, or her going with him. He didn't mind, but he had noticed, and it worried him.

Speaking of her now, Kaneki noticed that, most likely while he slept, that he'd begun to nibble on her finger, as it was in his mouth and being slightly pinched between his teeth. Her fingers he noted, like so many times before, were soft and... well... tasted nice, but Eto had explained already why that would be. Kaneki, now visibly embarrassed pulled the finger out of his mouth, noting that he had left a bit of spittle on the tip.

Kaneki then heard a tired giggle in his ear, accompanied by warm, relaxing breath, that tickled his skin, making him almost want to sleep again. "You seem hungry..." She said tiredly into his ear, before re-positioning her head on top of his own, letting her green locks fall in front of his face.

Kaneki was tempted to let her stay like that, to keep feeling her warm breath tickle his scalp and lull him back to sleep, but he couldn't, he had to get to work, there was much he had to do, including tutor Hinami... Hinami had warmed up to him in the week she had been at Anteiku, especially since he'd begun to teach her on how to read Kanji. Eto, or 'biggest sister', as the young brunette ghoul had taken to calling her had apparently been tutoring Hinami before he'd shown up, but Hinami rarely saw her and so she didn't know much at all. And, as a bonus, it seemed Touka had been(even if just slightly) had been nicer to him for doing so with Hinami.

"Eto, I have to get up..." He groaned, exhaustion in his voice. While he wanted to get up, it seemed his body didn't.

Eto, ever the lazy one, pulled him closer and whispered in to the back of his head, muffling her voice slightly, "mmm... No you don't..." she said matter-of-factly, well as much as she could, seeing as how tired she was.

Eto smiled as she felt Kaneki's back against her, he was so warm and mushy, she smiled at the word, Mushy, she thought, That describes him perfectly... yeah, he's very mushy... Just last night Ken, the mushy guy, was almost made to go collect 'food' for Anteiku, and he would have had she not spoken up against it, Eto didn't quite yet want him to be dismembering dead bodies, she wasn't sure he could handle that mentally and physically. Besides, if he had to go with Yomo, he'd most certainly be bored or scared to hell... most likely the latter.

"What do you mean, no?" He asked, his voice displaying the same exhausted gurgle hers was.

Eto, still to tired to open her green eyes, placed her entire face now onto the top of his head. Kaneki's hair was soft, she noted, that was why she liked to play with it so much, in fact just last night she found herself sniffing it, enjoying the scent. "I called in for you..." she began, "There's something I need to teach you how to do today... It's going to take a while..." she paused, feeling a bit reluctant to tell him what she was about to. "You're gonna be throwing up a lot..." her voice turned serious and her grip on the younger half-ghoul became tighter.

She felt Kaneki tense up at the mention of him regurgitating, she hated to make him do this, but it was something that needed to be done, or he'd never survive as what he'd become. "So, to prepare yourself for it, I wan't you to get some more rest, trust me, it'll make the experience less disgusting." Eto then, to help Kaneki fall into slumber, began dragging her index finger and thumb across his forehead, while she played with his hair.

It was sometime after noon now, Kaneki could tell, because the light pouring in from the windows had an orange tint to it. They were now in the kitchen, Eto struggling to keep her big green eye's open, and to keep her head up as she walked to the fridge. Kaneki, was in a similar state, but a bit more aware due to the warning she had given him; 'You're gonna be throwing up a lot...' The way she said that made him shiver, and he could swear he could already feel the stinging flavor of vomit on the back of his tongue.

The green haired woman reached into the refrigerator and began rearranging different packaged foods, including both human food and... humans. Kaneki could here her muttering to herself, asking herself were exactly she put wherever she she was searching for. Kaneki gulped, he knew what she was looking for, it was obvious: human food. Kaneki felt his stomach tighten up, and he began to feel his bowels become slightly loser, a reaction his body had whenever he became nervous.

Kaneki remembered, during the week in between when he was released fro the care of the hospital and the time Eto had moved him in, that everything he ate tasted horrendous. Bread was like a dry sponge, cheese tasted molded and stale, ham tasted like rubber, even the sweater things were disgusting to him. The hybrid remembered trying a cookie and instantly feeling like he was going to vomit out his stomach... originally he had thought it to be the trauma from the steel beam incident... he was sourly mistaken.

snapping him from his thoughts, Eto dropped a plate onto the dining table on the far side of the kitchen. It rattled as it slightly bounced from impact, before it settled. On it were three, perfectly cut triangle sandwiches, they sat straight up and side to side, next to them stood Eto, arms folded across her chest as she waited expectantly. Kaneki felt his blood run cold, she didn't expect him to eat that did she? There was no way he'd be able to keep that down.

Eto smiled a thin smile, and giggled softly, "They're perfectly edible..." she said as she carefully plucked one of the three sandwiches from it's spot. Ken Kaneki watched with surprise, and a little bit of horror as Eto slowly, almost as if she wanted to keep him in suspense, drew the ham, bread, and cheese closer to her mouth. She took a single bite out of it, chewed about ten or so times then swallowed, making a satisfied humming sound as she set it back down.

Kaneki face, much to Eto's amusement, was one of concern, confusion, and disbelief, after all he just saw- no, he thought he saw her eat a sandwich, something that would normally be impossible for a ghoul to even consider eating. "See?" she said, her voice almost betraying her plan, "Now you try one."

The younger of the two, stepped back once, not quite to sure about it, after all, what if it was one of Eto's jokes? "I don't think so... besides I'm not that hungry..." he said, joking a little bit at the insinuation of his hunger being satiated by nutrients of non human origins.

"Don't make me force feed you, again..." She threatened smirking at him, knowing how uncomfortable it was, and also knowing how uncomfortable she was about to make him. "Unless, of course, that's what you like..."

Kaneki, disturbed by the insinuation of him... getting off... at being force fed, quickly moved, almost slid, to the table on which the food rested, trying his utmost to show that he in fact did not enjoy being held down and fed.

The half-breed looked down upon the two sandwiches that stood side by side, his heart beating faster, as his taste buds, in an attempt to warn him of his recent experience with such foods, simulated the taste of vomit resting on his tongue. Slowly, so slowly, Kaneki extended his hand towards one of the duo, reluctant to even touch it, let alone put the damn thing in his mouth.

Picking up the combination of foods, Kaneki brought it up to his mouth, slowly opening it as his lips twitched. Kaneki then quickly, very quickly, shoved the tip of the sandwich into his mouth... only to be met by what he expected: his forced regurgitation of said food. Rushing to the nearby trash bin, the half ghoul leaned over and spit the now fused together pieces of bread, ham, and cheese. He felt warm droplets crawls out of his eye's showing his distaste at the food, and as his senses returned, he heard Eto laughing hysterically behind him.

Eto, as she kept laughing, felt sorry for the boy, and even more sorry for the trick she played on him, but he was just so gullible it was hard not to. Kaneki wiped spittled from the edge of his mouth with his fore arm as he lifted himself up with a shaky arm. His eye's were red with gag reflex induced tears and his face a similar shade with embarrassment... Seeing this... Eto's laughter only reignited itself.

Sometime after Eto had fully released ever little giggle that had crawled up from her lungs, she finally began to explain herself to Kaneki's accusatory face. "I'm so sorry... I just... You're far too easy!" she giggled a little, "But, the reason I made you do that is to teach you-"

"What, that I can't eat human food?" Kaneki slightly snapped at Eto, who brushed off the tone of his voice with a smile.

"No, Ken, that there you need to learn HOW to eat human food..."

Kaneki didn't reply, his face merely changes from accusation to curiosity. Eto liked that look on him, it suited him better, not only as a cosmetic feature, but as a personal feature, Kaneki was learning a lot lately, so he'd often wear that face throughout most of the day... The angry look just didn't suit him, in fact she didn't like that look on him.

"You see," she began "You are going to have to eat human food every now and again, as to not arouse suspicion from your human acquaintances, however, ghouls not only detest human food, it can cause them to become ill, so over the years we've developed a way to get around it." She said, picking up the remaining sandwich from the plate. "Watch, I'll open my mouth so you can see."

Eto took a bite out of the sandwich, open mouth and swallowed the bite whole, then made chewing sounds as she opened and closed her mouth, showing Kaneki exactly how it should be done. said hybrid watched as she set the food back unto the plate and spoke once more, "I wan't you to spend all day practicing, It won't come easy, trust me, but in time, you'll get it. I have an entire fridge filled with different foods for you to experiment with, so there's no shortage, don't worry." With that, and a sly, teasing smile the green haired woman left for the living room, plopped herself down on the brown couch, which squeaked at the impact, and flicked the television on, "I'll be right here if you need me!" she called, waving a thin arm above her head.

Kaneki gulped for umpteenth time that day, looking to the white box in the corner of the kitchen. A fridge full, huh? he mentally groaned, Thanks...

Eto stood outside of the downstairs restroom, It'd been about 3 hours since Kaneki had started... 'practicing' and his stomach was finally showing it's anger with him, in fact there wasn't a five second pause without the sounds of regurgitated food being rocketed out of his mouth. The author was beginning to get worried, and for good reason, she hadn't expected Kaneki to be this intolerant, in fact, she figured he'd be more accustomed to it than most, considering his human origins.

She sighed and knocked her knuckles against the door three times, hopefully distracting him from his upchucking of food. "Kaneki, are you okay in there?" she asked, letting worry slip through her normally happy, cheerful voice. Her reply was a thunderous 'blegh!' emitting from Kaneki, making her slightly cringe at the sound, definitely a bad idea...

"Well," she began, giggling nervously, "The good news is that I've decided you're done for the day!" she called, hoping that it would make him feel a little better... his response was the same. Sorry...

Then a ding sounded through the home, alerting her(and if Kaneki heard it him as well), that they had visitors.

Hinami and her mother stood on the front step of 'biggest sister's' home, The reason they came by was because Hinami had caught wind that her pseudo older brother was under the weather, and she(being ever the caring girl) wanted to check on him. But, one thing had caught the young brunette off-guard... Biggest sister and big brother live together?

Hinami was holding back a small blush, being a 13 year old girl was pretty much the same for humans and ghouls, and so Hinami had automatically assumed one thing: Her pseudo siblings were dating... The thought made her feel weird, though she thought it fit quite well... big brother had one Kakugan on his left eye, and biggest sister had one on her right... in a way they were like a puzzle piece... And puzzle pieces... have places that interlock... Hinami added, her mind momentarily taking a dive into the gutter, causing a light sheen of red to crawl over her cheeks.

A series of metal clicks were heard, then, but a few moments later a thin, petite, green haired woman stepped out with a bright smile on her face... she was also still in her pajama's, and while they weren't quite so revealing, Hinami had to wonder why she would wear such an outfit... even if she and big brother were... together, which Hinami wasn't sure was the case, just somewhat hoped it to be.

"Biggest sister!" The younger brunette cried out happily, throwing her arms out and embracing the woman around her waist.

Eto laughed as she rocked backwards on her feet, it'd been almost a year since she'd seen the girl, and she'd missed out on being able to tutor her. Ryouko couldn't do it because she never attended school either, and on top of that she mainly relied on her husband as a source of income and food, so right now, maybe Hinami needed something to distract her from her life, maybe like a visit to her 'biggest sister'. But, Eto felt bad, she'd known the girl had been at Anteiku for about a week and still didn't make the time to pay said girl a visit.

"Hello, Hinami." She replied, smiling pulling the child off her legs. "Come to see me? Want me to read you some books?" Eto inquired as she brought herself down to Hinami's level, resting the rest of her body on her calves.

Hinami frowned, making an uneasy groan at the suggestion, "Well, I-I'd like to but-"

"I'm sorry, Eto," Ryouko broke in, "but, we can't stay long, we just wanted to check on Kaneki and see if he was all right..." She said, the sad tone of her voice pouring through multiple cracks in her happy facade. Eto couldn't quite figure out why she even put a facade up, it's not like she would be looked down upon for crying at the loss of her husband... maybe it was for Hinami... after all, she needed her mother to be strong now, for her sake.

Eto, picking herself back up and sighed. "Well, Kaneki is preoccupied with blowing chunks into the toilet bowl right now... so I don't think he can really accept visitors..." She said, mimicking the disappointment on Hinami's features. "... Sorry."

"I- I see..." said Hinami, looking a little more downcast.

"Well," spoke Ryouko, "tell him we hope he starts feeling better..." she said, placing a light hand on Hinami's shoulder, making it obvious on how bad she wanted to see her new friend. "Come on, Hinami, we need to get back to Anteiku, it's getting late... and about to rain."

"Sorry, again." Eto said, now leaning against the door frame, "Tell my father Kaneki's had a rough day... so he may be staying in tomorrow as well."

"I will..."

Eto waved as they walked down the street, Hinami's head slightly lower than when she arrived and Ryouko opening the light blue umbrella she had for said rain. She felt guilty, denying Hinami her visit of Kaneki, but what he needed right now was rest, and she felt guilty for that as well. Sighing, the green haired author closed the door, blocking herself, and the rest of the interior of her home, from the coming rain storm.

Just as the metal locked into place, the bathroom door creaked open slowly, to a slighlty pale Kaneki, who was in the process of wiping spittle off of his face.

"Feel better?" Eto teased.

"Yeah... who came by?"

"Hinami, wondering how you were doing, I told her you were too sick to take visitors. Guess I was wrong."

"Oh..."

There was a momentary silence between them as Eto began to stretch her arms and grunt in satisfaction, she was tired, she had no right to be, she'd only been up for a total of 3 hours, but her body was begging for more sleep, and she was more than willing to comply, however it's in these times that everyone remembers that one little thing that they needed to do just before they sleep.

"Awww, damn..." she said as she lazily let her arms hang, causing the back of her tan pajama shirt to lift slightly.

"What is it?"

"I forgot to give Hinami the Hanged man's MacGuffin... I was meaining to by the time it came out, but I never quite got to it." She groaned, placing to fingers to her forehead.

"I... I can if you want..." Kaneki offered, a little bit reluctantly.

"I thought you were sick?" She replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, they just left right? I can catch up and get back...", then a loud boom sounded outside the home. "I'll just need an umbrella..." Kaneki said, giggling a little, at the sudden interference of nature

Hinami and her mother were walking back to Anteiku in silence, she felt a little disappointed, she was hoping her pseudo sibling would help her learn more Kanji, but it seemed that she was not so lucky today. Still, she wished she could've said hi to Kaneki at least. Though their first meeting had been... clumsy... Kaneki had turned out to be so helpful... Just like biggest sister, Hinami added, smiling.

In her personal opinion, Hinami figured that her two friends would make a great pair. They were both nice, they both enjoy books, they're both Half-ghouls, and they both smelt the same(just about). But, speaking of smell, Hinami was beginning to notice an unfamiliar scent... and it was getting stronger. Then, the girls ears began to pick up vibrations through the air, she heard footsteps, which was not uncommon in Tokyo, definetly not, but theese were different... these had purpose... snd they were getting closer and closer.

Nervously, Hinami began to tug on her mothers shirt, prompting the older woman to ask her daughter what had been bothering her. "We need to leave..." Hinami whispered, standing on the tips of her furry boots to get closer to her mothers ears.

Without hesitation, Ryouko began to walk with a new fire in her legs, dragging her daughter behind her. Hinami's senses were sharper than most ghouls, much sharper than her own, so she had no idea where to go, but forward. "Hinami!" she silently snapped, a new tone in her voice, one she hardly ever took with her daughter, "Who's after us?"

Hinami was merely shaking while being pulled along, nearly tripping a few times. "D..." she stuttered out, eye's wide.

"Who?!"

"Da-"

Suddenly two men appeared before her and her daughter, they wore business suits, one black, and one a similar color only with a white overcoat. The taller one, the one wearing the black, looked normal, even average(despite his immense height), the one in white however, was something out of a slasher movie, he had this sadistic look on his bony, pale face, and the unkempt chin length white hair to match.

"Number 723..." He said, surprisingly gently, but still with a slight menace to his voice. "I believe we have a few things that belong to you... but were not quite sure..."

The taller man, without saying a word, pulled a white, phantom of the opera style mask out of his suit jacket and held it out to the point that it was visible to mother and daughter, the white haired man, however pulled out something much more dire.

He slung it about, around him, whipping it back and forth mockingly. It was long, bony and had curved blades on each of it's segments. It didn't need to be said what it was, it was painfully obvious, so painfully... that Ryouko felt a tear stream down her right cheek, however, Hinami said it, a word that stung her mother so deeply, that it almost paralyzed her.

"Daddy..."