Isa woke up rubbing her eyes, and her mind instantly aware of where she was. She could feel Tatara's calm presence nearby, watching her. The first thing that popped into her head was the new phone.

"Do you want to activate your phone?" She asked, still feeling fuzzy from grogginess. She laid on the bed and used her arms to push herself up a bit, and stared at the clock until her eyes focused and her vision became sharper. "It's still pretty early."

"Yeah," Tatara replied.

"Okay," she said, and she lied back down, waiting for her grogginess to fade. Tatara looked at her, confused.

"Why are you lying back down?"

"Just wait...a little longer."

Tatara leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. "What time does it close?" He asked, just for the sake of asking.

"I don't know-six o'clock?"

"It's four."

Isa dismissively waved her hand. "Well have time."

Tatara calculated the distance of the nearest shop from his home, and then estimated the time. "We won't have enough time, Isa. Let's go now." He then explained the amount of time it would take them to arrive there, adding the time with how long the activation would take, and it convinced her to get up and get ready to go.

Tatara prefered not going, as it seemed a waste of time when he was supposed to relax, but if it made Isa happy, then he'd do it.

They'd finally activated the phone and was headed back to Tatara's place, until Isa said she wanted to go to the abandoned building. Tatara sensed that rain was going to fall soon; it smelled more dense than usual, which meant that the rain was going to be heavy.

They watched the view from above together, enjoying the breeze of wind that blew by occasionally. The clouds grew darker by the minute as it also covered the sun. The whole city looked in gloom, reminding Tatara of the wars of Aogiri and CCG in the past, and the one that was about to come.

Three days.

"Is something the matter?" Isa asked, making Tatara aware that she was there.

"No," he replied.

"Are you sure? You look a bit upset." Isa's expression changed to concern as she stared at Tatara for an answer.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said calmly, starting to get a little annoyed.

Isa's gaze lowered as if she was a bit hurt. "Well, if there's anything you ever want to tell me, please do, because I'll be here to listen." She placed a hand on his arm, looking back up at him with expectancy. He nodded, and took her hand.

"Thank you." He saw a slight smile on Isa's face as she looked back at the view. She shivered.

"It's getting cold, and it looks like it's going to rain," she said, looking up into the sky.

"Yeah. It's going to be heavy rain." Tatara looked back up at the clouds as they swiftly drifted with the wind. "Let's head back inside," he said, walking back towards the stairs. Isa took one last glance at the sky.

"It doesn't seem we can get back to your house without getting soaked." She followed Tatara.

Once they made it to ground, rain started to pour in heavy droplets. Isa suggested that they stay in the building until the rain cleared out.

"It's safe in here, right?" She asked, hesitant to open the front door.

"Yeah. I come here a lot. No one lives here or ever came here when I was here. It's abandoned." He grabbed the dusty handle of the doors and pushed it open, metal groaning as they grinded against each other. It was very dark inside, but Tatara just headed in without a word or reluctance. Isa followed at his heels, unsure about her own suggestion.

It was an old, abandoned apartment building that had no power, but Tatara said cold water still ran.

Tatara said it was best to go to the gym, since there was someplace to sit.

"There's still furniture here?" Isa asked.

"Barely. But there are a couple chairs and a couch."

"In the gym?"

"Yeah."

He opened the slide doors of the gym, letting Isa enter first. It wasn't as dark as the hallways, as the only source of light came from the windows. But even the gloomy light from outside didn't make the place look less eerie, as everything besides the dim light was shadowed and dark.

They sat on the chairs and waited for the rain to stop, talking. It soon became cold for Isa, and the rain didn't seem to stop anytime soon, so, Tatara ended up forcing her to wear his shirt on top of hers. It made her cheeks redden with heat as she slipped his T-shirt on, but she felt happy like a small child that got what they wanted. Gladly, the place was dark so Tatara wouldn't be able to tease her with a smug smirk.

"So, what do you do, Tatara? As in, spare time, job, and anything like that," Isa asked. She couldn't believe that she never even asked that question before.

"I used to work with Takatsuki with her job a several months ago, but now I'm trying to find my own."

"I see." Isa was shocked, but didn't show it. "So you guys wrote stories together?"

"No. I just helped her edit and format it, and she shared her income with me. We're childhood friends, so she helped me for a while."

"Really? You guys were friends for that long? I never knew that." Isa thought for a moment. Why didn't Takatsuki tell her about that?

"Yeah. And then I told her I didn't need her help anymore."

"What do you do now?"

"Still finding."

"Oh yeah." She was too concentrated with Tatara and Takatsuki being childhood friends that she forgot he already said that.

So Takatsuki helped Tatara because they were childhood friends… Isa wondered if there was more to that. Maybe at some point they had an interest in each other?

"Why did you tell her that you didn't need her help anymore?" Isa asked.

"I didn't really like it. And…"

"And?"

"I rather take care of myself."

Isa chuckled, causing Tatara to become confused. "Why laugh?"

She put a hand over her mouth to gesture politeness. "Typical you. It all fits you."

"Does it?"

She nodded. "Mhm. I...like it, actually."

"Like wha-" Tatara stopped at a faint sound coming from the hallway. He jerked his head back at the direction, staring down the hall. The rain was dulling his senses, but he still managed to smell humans from a distance.

"What's wrong?" Isa asked, her voice filled with worry and she caught onto his sense of danger. She reached out and touched his arm. His skin was so cool and smooth, it reminded her of silk. Tatara stood up abruptly, his luminous eyes that shined off the light suddenly turned sharp like daggers, staring down at her. He took her by the arm and started walking towards other side of the gym where it was the darkest. Fear pumped through Isa's chest, she knew something dangerous had happened, she just didn't know what. She knew to stay quiet until Tatara said so, so she kept her mouth shut.

She saw Tatara's silhouette feel the wall, as if he was trying to find a door. She heard him grab something, and then there was a sound of a door opening.

"In here," Tatara whispered.

She followed the sound of his voice, and by then, she could hear faint footsteps coming from the hallway.

They were inside some kind of room. Tatara hugged Isa closer to him and slowly closed the door, complete darkness enveloping the entire room. Isa leaned her head on his shoulder, the soft cool of his skin relaxing her a bit.

"I didn't know this would happen, Isa. I'm sorry," Tatara said barely in a whisper.

"What's happening? Why are we hiding?" She asked.

Instead of answering, he pulled her head closer towards him, Isa's lips accidentally pressing onto his shoulder. She felt a wave of energy surging through her body before she realized the situation she was in.

"Tatara?"

He didn't respond. He was concentrating on the sounds of the people who were in the building. Were they kids just wondering around? Nobody came in the building for the past three years. It was safe until now. He listened very carefully, concentrating on his hearing senses.

"Tatar-"

Tatara wrapped an arm around the small of her back and squeezed it, causing her to stop what she was saying. The footsteps of the people came closer, and it was definite that they were heading this way. He counted the sounds of footsteps, calculating the number of people who were there.

Two.

He finally noticed that Isa was breaths were hitchy from him squeezing her too tightly. He loosened his grip and mumbled an apology bringing his mouth closer to her ear. "Wait," he said. She nodded.

"So...this is the old building where Aogiri used to encamp?" A voice asked.

Ghoul investigators… How could I have not thought of that?

"Yeah. Three years ago. This was one of their building that we raided."

The footsteps became more louder as they roamed the gym. "Tsk. Ghouls acting like humans. It's disgusting. They should just live in the wild like animals," the person then snicked as if he thought what he'd said was amusing.

The mention of ghouls sparked Isa's curiosity and attention. She listened further into the conversation.

"Don't you think so, Manaba-san?"

"Eh. Just get back to work."

"Oh. What are we here for again? Sorry I just kind of forgot. We're not just here to sightsee, are we?"

There was a brief pause.

"Ow! That hurt! What was that for, Manaba-san?!"

"Quit your rambling and let's just hurry up."

"Yes sir!" Someone's footsteps quickened. "With the raid coming up in three days and all-I think we'll gain victory. With all of the new technology 'n stuff. Aogiri will be pressed to a pulp," an energetic voice said.

"Shut up..."

"But it's very true, sir. Even with all their artificial ghouls, we'll still win. We've got the upper hand on this one."

What are they talking about? Isa wondered. The words 'raid' and 'Aogiri' stuck in her mind.

Isa and Tatara both hid for the next several minutes until the two investigators finally went off. Tatara could no longer smell them either, so he knew they must have been far gone by then.

"I think they're gone now," Tatara said, finally breaking the silence.

Isa rose her head and looked at him-or more so looked at his silhouette. She put her hands back down to her sides, which was warm and sweaty from Tatara's body heat. She blushed that the realization of what they just did. There wasn't any reason for them to be so close. There was space in the room. Yet, Tatara kept her very close. Was he trying to protect her in that sense?

"How come we were hiding?" She asked him again.

Tatara opened the door, cool air flowing into the small room. "It's not likely for people to come here, so I thought it must have been workers or something. They would probably question us if we were found, and I rather not get into unnecessary business… I apologize, Isa." His voice was nonchalant, but Isa knew that was typical of him-even in situations like these.

"No...it's fine, really. As long as we're both safe." She looked over to the windows to check if the rain had stopped. Something felt a little strange.

"It seems it stopped," Tatara said before she could. "I'll take you home."

"The subway station is just fine."

Tatara walked Isa to the station, feeling a little unsettled. It felt like he was breaking apart, slowly. Something felt heavy in his chest, as all the memories came flooding back into his mind. Memories...that would have to be forgotten.

The train came to a stop with a strong whiz that crazily made their hair dance. The door opened with a signal, and all the passengers came flooding out of the train, everyone minding their own business and walking about. Isa walked towards the train, but then Tatara took her hand, clutching it briefly before he loosened his grip a bot. Isa turned around, giving him a confused look that soon became into a warm smile.

This is the last time we'll ever meet again like this.

The next time will be different.

You'll be lost. Forever.

I wish we never met.

Tatara let go of her hand and Isa headed inside, flashing him one last smile before the and train sped off.

splitimage: Thank you! ^^