They were both angry... Ayato could tell that. But, he also knew neither of them wanted to be viewed as weal. So, as he and the other lieutenants of Aogiri tree watched the two men bicker in a very quiet manner that one could have mistaken for a simple conversation, he began to look at Tatara. Truth be told, with his experience in the group, Ayato had picked up on some of the albino ghouls characteristics... One of which being his eye's. Though they never seemed to change, whenever he was even slightly upset they would wrinkle just a bit as he slightly narrowed them. Another was his head placement. This trait was pretty standard, but somewhat hard to see considering his high collar. When annoyed, he would place his head higher than normal, as to look down on the thing that irritated him... Right now though, aside from the slight bobbing of the mask as he spoke, he was still.

"Of course... If the martial artist, Shachi, I believe was his name," the doctor began, explaining the reasons as to why they had to leave the laboratory- mentioning the Orca ghoul by name, whom of which simply leaned against the wall at the back arms folded over a bare chest looking on indifferent as the rest- "Had not been so hasty then we could have escaped with research data... and Rize."

Tatara looked over, with eye's only, too Shachi who looked back with a look that simply read "I was only following your orders." as he began to reply. "And the nurse, Taguchi, what of her?"

Ayato then gained interest at that, as far as he knew, the nurse was gone. She was the only thing standing between the coffee shop that he once called home and the wrath of the CCG, but she was also the one that could trigger it. Her absence meant that Anteiku was safe that... those human loving idiots were safe... It was a comforting thought, but it begged the question. Why was Eto still here? She wasn't stupid, and she was allowed free roam through the hideout- not like anyone could stop her- so why did she stay? More importantly, he wanted her gone, because he couldn't stand looking at her. He didn't hate her, he just didn't want to see her sad looking eye's when he was around.

"She's gone." he stated calmly, "Whether she was killed, or she's still there, I don't know."

Tatara's Eye's wrinkled and he began to stand, slightly tightening his hands into balls. "So, were without a base for experimentation, a laboratory, or even leverage..." He then turned to look at the Owl, who had been watching from above through a a crack in the floor above, not hiding herself, just so quiet that no one really realized she was there. She looked bored, defeated kind of, something very out of place for her, as she brought her knee's to her face ans watched, green hair messy and unkempt as it flowed down her back.

"That begs the question, why are you still here?" He asked her. She didn't reply, simply looked down at him, a little surprised, probably that he didn't know yet.

The doctor then chuckled chuckled a bit to himself. "'No leverage'?" he asked, bringing up a finger, "I wouldn't say that..." The way he spoke was riddled with such a smug aura that even Ayato got a little pissed.

"What are you talking about?" The leader of the group asked him, voice calm, but with a hint of curiosity.

"Our leverage is no longer Anteiku... But it's a much closer asset." He paused, pointing to the Owl who watched over them... "And it lies in the Owls womb."

Ayato felt suddenly very cold, very cold and afraid. Afraid for Eto. He felt sweat begin to form, his hands grow a little numb, and his ears turn hot. He was scared, scared for his adoptive older sister, the one he had never been able to beat in a fight before... For once it felt like she was completely powerless. Now of course, Eto could beat any of the ghouls here one on one mostly with no problem... But, with an entire army like Aogiri, she was likely to take a few hits... And more than likely... if she were hit in the wrong area a miscarriage would occur. They all knew it.

However, Ayato noticed that he wasn't the only one who had looked over to her, a new member, an orange haired guy, that same age as Kaneki(whom Ayato assumed was the father) had taken a somewhat surprised look as well... But, Ayato wasn't so sure about this guy... he'd seemed to be kind of air headed ever since he got here. Not stupid, but distracted. Now, Ayato didn't know the guy, but that was only testament to how out of it he was... He was so much so that even a complete stranger could see it... It was clear something was bothering him. He wouldn't care to be paired with that one...

"And, of course," Kanou began again, gaining everyone's attention once more, "I never said that I couldn't perform the surgery without Rize... But, it's going to be a bit different now..." He began to explain. "You see, and this is but a theory, that a kakuhou, when transplanted, needs a certain type of body to be transfered into, and even then it's never guaranteed to work. But, Rize's Kagune seems to be compatible with more petite body types. Example are Kaneki, Kuro, Shiro, Hideyoshi, and the Binge eater herself... All I need is medical equiptment, and an assistant with a particularly sharp and precise Kagune... along with some humans and ghouls of course... But those are in no short supply..."

He then smiled a kind smile. "So, you see, in the end it was but a minor setback."

"Eat..." Renji spoke to the girl, as he, Touka, and Hinami all watched her in the brake room. That girl was Rize. It had been around 3 days since they had free'd her from Kanou's laboratory and they had been feeding her non-stop since. Of course, in Touka's opinion, she hardly deserved it, the glutton that she was, but it was better than having a raving mad, starving ghoul in the goddamn basement wasn't it? Yeah, it was.

"Don't have to tell me twice..." The binge eater muttered to herself, slightly annoyed, but still thankful(not that she would show it), as she took another finger and hngrily dropped it down her throat. It was funny to say, considering her appetite, but Rize had never been so happy to eat before in her entire life. She was fed only weekly in Kanou's care, and even then it was maybe a toe... she'd lost her mind. That was too little for any ghoul, most of all her. But, in the end, getting back what she had lost also gave back her sanity... though she had only just returned back to normal yesterday. She smiled to herself.

"What's so funny?" Touka asked, almost spat, the binge eater as she folded her arms over her chest.

"Oh, nothing..." Rize replied, "I just find it kind of funny that Anteiku of all groups is nursing me back to health... It makes me feel wanted."

Touka gave a slightly annoyed look at her. Wanted... she mentally scoffed, Every man in the damn ward wanted her.

Then, the door to the brake room opened and in stepped in a man with a strange goatee and slick backed brown hair. His jacket was wet with a rain that Touka just now realized was pouring down outside and in his hands was a box of coffee beans. Speaking of people who want her. Touka thought to herself as she turned to Banjou and motioned towards the closet in the corner. "Just set them over there." she told him as he obediently did as he was told, taking careful trouble to not look at Rize, probably for fear of getting red in the face. "Thank's Banjou."

"Banjou?" Rize asked, looking over too him, past Yomo's shoulder as he began to exit the room, hoping to not be noticed. "Kazui?" she asked, placing a finger to a slight bloody bottom lip, "Or was it Kazuisu?"

Banjou then exited the room, clearly flustered at her mentioning his name at all.

Touka then scowled at her. "His name is Kazuichi..." She informed her, narrowing her one visible eye.

"Oh yes, that was it..." She replied already uninterested as she ate another finger.

"I shouldn't need to tell you that..." Touka muttered to her as she watched her eat.

"Oh, and why's that? Why should I have to remember his name? I mean, he's always been so annoying... Always following me around, everywhere I go, trying to give me gifts trying to read with me... So annoying." She chimed, eating another finger.

"He cares about you. That's why." Touka told her, a little angry now. She was mad, mad because that's exactly how Kaneki used to be. He used to be annoying, awkward,he would follow you around like a duckling... and she missed that...

"And?" Rize questioned again, "It's not like I need him to. It's not like expect him to. He's under no obligation."

"That's exactly why you should at least remember his name." Touka argued, "He didn't have to help us, but he did, he even carried you out of the laboratory..."

"How nice of him..." Rize replied dryly.

That made Touka pissed, but she shrugged, there was really no point to talking to someone like her, she cared only about herself.

"One day, Rize, he's going to stop caring about you, and even though you don't want to admit it, and probably don't believe it now, you're going to miss having him follow you around."

Rize ate another finger then giggled to herself, "I'll keep it in mind..."

There was another silence then, as Rize continued her meal eating happily while a small, television blared the news in the background, breaking the silence in a somewhat pleasant and soothing way.

Then a new voice broke the silence. "Uh- ah... Ms. Rize?" Hinami began, shyly, in a quiet voice that fit well with her small frame.

"Hmmm?" She asked, not in a rude way, but a distracted, happy one.

"How is your hair so pretty?" Hinami asked, pointing at the purple locks that flowed down her back and were carefully tucked behind her ears. "It's so big and full... And it's so long... I like it."

Rize found herself almost awestruck. She had never been complimented quite like that before. Of course there were the men that would say kind things to get into her pants and what not(most of which she would eat) but they never really meant it, what they really meant was "Hey, I love your tits." Which was a pretty nice compliment too, but it wasn't quite the same.

"I-it's naturally like this... I suppose. It would look better if I had a proper bath, but what can you do?"

Hinami nodded. "I wish my hair was as long and pretty as yours... My mom's was but I have my fathers hair. I guess that's what big brother first saw in you, huh? Before you tried to eat him."

Rize nodded. She didn't really know exactly how to respond. She wasn't quite sure why, but she felt happy... She's never been good with compliments, but she gave it her best shot. "T-thank you... Your mother must be a very pretty woman." She smiled, quite awkwardly then.

"Y-yeah."

Then a voice called for her downstairs, Irimi's, and she obeyed, leaving the other three ghouls alone at the top.

"Big brother?"

"She means Kaneki..." Touka spoke, looking back at the door.

Rize then tilted her head to one side, the left to be precise, slightly, but enough for her hair to flow down just a bit as she looked at her food on the table. Almost entirely devoured. "Mr. Kaneki, huh?" She spoke to herself a little softly, almost curious... Almost. "He's still alive?" Rize was surprised, she didn't remember much that night, aside from chasing Kaneki, slamming rather, the bookworm into a construction sight and then being smashed beneath metal pillars just as s he was about to eat Kaneki... Honestly she hadn't expected him to live.

"Yeah..." Touka spoke a little disgusted by her questions. They weren't particularly meant to strike a cord with her but they did for whatever reason.

Then, as if he was waiting for the cue, in stepped the white aired boy, his messy hair waving a little bit as the door opened as closed behind him. He was wearing that familiar blue jacket that he always seemed to wear, along with those black jeans and his sneakers. It was funny, they almost looked out of place on him now. But, Touka guessed that was more of a sad thing.

"Oh..." The waitress said, surprised at the sudden intrusion, "You're back."

She was surprised, not at his appearance but the reason he'd taken a short absence those days ago. At first it seemed he was upset about not being able to speak to Eto, or maybe it was about his friend Hide... But, strangely enough, it was about Yakumo. Kaneki and Yakumo's relationship, on the surface at least, never got past the acquaintance level, but forever reason Kaneki seemed to blame himself for his one time captors death. Maybe it was sympathy(unlikely), maybe it was a gratitude for his help, but Kaneki did at least acknowledge his death and that made Touka somewhat happy. Why she couldn't really say.

"Yeah, I just needed some rest." He then looked over to Rize, who now looked at him with a slight interest. It was almost scary, how quickly she got back to looking like her normal self, rather than just some crazed, starving, woman. She hadn't even known her own name when they'd brought her back... At least, that's what Touka had told him. Kaneki had slept for a whole day after the events at the laboratory. It was yesterday though, after Eto didn't return like the nurse, Taguchi, who had turned on the doctor and helped Touka and the others find Rize, had said she probably would, that they had come up with a new plan to get her back... And, if Kaneki did say so himself, it was a pretty dangerous one... But that was the norm lately.

"If you don't mind," he began, now looking at Yomo as well, "I'd like to speak to Rize alone..."

Touka understood, it was a simple request, and an understandable one. After all, it was Rize who had been the catalyst for Kaneki's sudden thrust into the life of a ghoul. He had a right to talk to her at least.

Yomo simply nodded in reply and began, along with Touka, to exit.

Rize waited until Kaneki had sat on the other couch parallel to her and let himself get situated. "Oh, wow Mr. Kaneki." She coed, "You're hairs gone all white... Did you die it?"

The question had caught Kaneki off guard, for whatever reason he had envisioned her knowing everything that had transpired since that night... But then, that Rize was only his own mental manifestation of the girl who sat before him now.

"Rize..." He began. "Do you remember what Kanou was doing to you in that laboratory?"

Her face went from one of intrigue to one of a slight annoyance, like she was somewhat angry with him. "Oh, I see, you too then, huh?" She then sighed. "Oh well, I was hoping I would get to actually eat you this time... But I guess that ship has sailed..."

"Yeah..." He agreed, surprised at how well she was dealing with all this, that her Kakuhou had been whored out to anyone that Kanou wished. "You aren't upset?"

"HAH!" she laughed abruptly, "NOT upset? Come now Kaneki, did I really seem the forgiving type to you? OF course I'm upset. That filthy human bastard used me to make monsters and freaks- no offense- so that's why my answer is yes."

"'Yes'?" he repeated a little confused.

"Well, it's not more of an answer, you never had a choice to begin with, I'm going to help you get him for the pain he's caused the both of us." she paused, "Of course... there's just one thing I wan't to ask... How's it been Kaneki? How has life been for you lately, hmm?" Her tone taking a more teasing feel now. "I wonder, do you hate me? Or do you understand now? What it's like for us? Of course, I, like others, do enjoy the killing, but do you understand what it's like for these fine people, here at Anteiku?"

Kaneki waited for a bit to answer her, still slightly unsure what to say to the girl, he hadn't expected this, not at all... He never thought Rize would give a damn about him. "... I never hated you, Rize. At first I just thought you were doing it for food, which you were, but I think I know why you're like this... Such a sadist..."

"Oh?" she coed once more, "And how's that?"

"Over the time of your absence, I've come to realize that no matter what race you are, there is a reason for you being the way you are... The Kaneki you knew was weak because he had been raised to be submissive, but the world has changed me and now I can hardly recognize myself sometimes... I think that at some point you were different, but maybe the constant fear of being chased down had changed you, or maybe it was the starvation that got to you... but everyone in the world who can be viewed as evil has ended up that way for reasons beyond their control... Be it a bad home environment, trauma, or torture... No ones ever entirely evil."

Rize was then silent, looking at Kaneki up and down with a bit of surprise. "Maybe..." She simply stated, smirking.

Eto found herself once again waking up, holding the old, gray pillow close to herself as she tried to simulate herself holding Kaneki once again... But it never quite did the trick. Eto was alone every night... Well, that's not exactly true... She smiled lightly to herself as she gently placed a hand over a now slightly swollen stomach. But, now more than ever with the child in her womb she felt scared, terrified, more than ever. One wrong move, even a possible over straining of her body and she'd miscarry. That was probably the most terrifying thing.

It was funny, she thought, Eto never truly imagined herself to ever be the motherly type, but it changes whenever you actually have one she supposed. She hadn't truly met this child at all but she knew she loved it everything about it. It was both her and Kaneki. But, what scared her now was the idea of how the child would grow. Fatherless? Would it end up being how she was so many years ago? That was a scary thought... But it's not like she could escape... Even inside her kakuja, with the risk being minimal, she still couldn't take the chance of taking a hit in the wrong place. She knew that Tatara would make sure she didn't leave unscathed, and now that her secret was out...

Then the door creaked open and she moved her eye's to meet her new guest, only realizing when she did that she must have been crying.

To her surprise, but pleasure actually, it was Ayato. Touka's little brother whoom of which had so adamantly wanted to stay away from her. She knew he felt guilty, and she knew that he felt like she was mad at him.

"So..." he began, placing his hands in his pockets, "Is it that Kaneki guys?"

"What?" Eto asked, a little confused. He hadn't seen her for years and that was his first question to her? She almost laughed.

"The kid... Is he Kaneki's?"

"Oh, yeah." She replied. "What are you doing here, Ayato? You seemed so bent on not making contact with me."

He didn't reply.

"It's because you feel guilty isn't it? You think I'm upset with you? You think we are mad at you for leaving... We were never mad at you, Ayato. None of us, not even Touka. But, it's only now that I get what you were trying to accomplish."

He then looked back at her and frowned. "What are you talking about? I left because I wanted to... I didn't need to be around weak asses like you!"

"Ayato..." Eto said smirking, "Look who you're talking to. You're calling the One-Eye'd-Owl weak? Now you're just acting like a brat..." She said, victoriously, trying to make him feel a little embarrassed. "But, yes... I do know why you're doing this there's no need to hide it. Tatara probably knows too... Even though our circumstances are different we both are doing this to protect the ones we care about aren't we? To protect Anteiku."

There was another silence then, as he stared at her with a defeated look. "Am I really that transparent?" he asked, almost laughing.

Eto chuckled a light chuckle at him then a beckoned him closer in a friendly manner. "It's hard isn't it?" She asked him, "Trying to make them hate you, to make them leave you, just so you can keep them safe? But all you really want to do is see them isn't it? It's a never ending cycle of internal pain. You keep hoping that one day you can see them one more time, but then at the same time you hope to never have to again... Just so you don't have to see their hurt faces when you make them hate you?"

Ayato nodded simply and kept himself still... Eto could tell he was biting his lip, keeping a small whimper at bay.

"Well then, you should get some sleep then, Ayato... Good night."

Later that night, Eto found herself laughing... in the midst of crying. It was funny to her that while Ayato was the one who biting his lip, she was the one who was crying out of them. But it felt good to cry... for her at least, it reminded her that she still cared and that she hadn't given up. She never would. She then brought her hands to her stomach.

"Sorry..." she said through a shaky voice, "I know you shouldn't have to feel me cry..."