May 9th, 4:45pm

"So you haven't heard anything about it?"

Emily was sitting on a stool in HySy, she'd left school early just to visit Uta and ask his opinion on the mysterious force that had attacked Ayato. It had been on her mind all day, it just didn't make any sense. The only thing that could have done that much damage to a Ghoul was either another Ghoul or a Quinque.

Uta spun around on his own stool, an ear sticking out of his mouth and several pencil behind his own ears and in his tunnels. Emily held back the grimace threatening to form on her face and forced herself not to stare at the thing in his mouth otherwise she would probably throw up.

"Nuh." he replied then, tipping his head back to suck the ear fully into his mouth, continued talking, "Sorry, snacking helps my creative motivation. Hey, you should let me make a mask for you too. I've had a lot of ideas about what we could do...like maybe a full faced Venetian masquerade mask, one half white and the other black? Or a cracked porcelain doll? Or a kitsune ma-"

"Uta." Emily said bringing his attention back to the reason she was there, "I don't need a mask. What I need is information on what could possibly be in Dad's old territory that nearly killed Ayato. Can you help me?"

Uta lowered his gaze, "Emily-chan," he said using a tone that proved he was the real Uta now, "You're father is a good man. I'd go as far as to say he was the best man I'd ever met. And your mother, she may have been human but she knew more about us than we did. She treated us as equals even if we attacked. I'd never seen anyone who came close to the amount of kindness or love your parents had - but they weren't weak. I'd only once ever seen just how strong Ryo-san was and how resilient Olivia-san could be. That was when someone they were looking after tried to attack you.

"Your parents asked Renji and I to take care of you if anything happened to them, and I know Renji has told you the same thing, but living by yourself in that place is dangerous."

Emily stared at Uta, she had never heard him speak like this before nor had she been told that story of her parents. It hurt to be reminded of them and their sacrifice to protect everything they held dear, but this was not what she was here for. "Uta-san, plea-"

Uta held up his slender, inked hand to silence her, "Kirishima Ayato is dangerous, wounded or not. I'm not saying you shouldn't keep helping like you are, but as soon as he leaves it'll be better for you to just forget him. He's not someone you should get too involved with, Emily."

"I already know that," she said lowering her gaze. It wasn't a lie, she did know he was dangerous and she knew that once he was gone the chances of them meeting again were less than slim but despite all that, she couldn't just leave things as they were, "I just want to find out if there's a bigger threat to Ghouls and humans than the CCG."

Uta sighed and swiveled back around to finish his sketch of a new mask design, "I want to help you, I really do. But I don't know anything about it."

Feeling more than a little disappointed, Emily stood and thanked him before heading towards the shop's front door, however, just like he'd done before, Uta called out to her as she left, "I'll get Itori to see what she can discover and let you know if anything comes up."

6:00pm

"Does that hurt?" Emily asked as she pressed the tips of her fingers against the bruising around Ayato's stomach wound.

"Not especially." he replied already sounding bored. Emily pursed her lips and moved her fingers closer to the actually gash until Ayato sat up, slapping her hand away harshly, and swearing.

"Jesus fucking Christ! What the shit are you actually trying to do? Stick your fucking fingers inside me?!" After a string of cursing, the Ghoul fell back against the couch and ran a hand through his messy hair, trying to calm down, "Sorry. It just hurt."

"Good." Emily replied as she dug through the medical kit she'd picked up from the store on her way home from HySy. Above her, Ayato scoffed,

"Glad you think so." he muttered in annoyance. Emily grinned and pulled out a handful of anti-bacterial wipes, a gauze pad and a extra large bandage, "Remind me again why I agreed to let you do this?"

"Because, the sooner you're better, the sooner you can go on your way." she replied trying not to let the disappointment she felt seep into her voice. Ayato grimaced and clutched the couch cushion as Emily dabbed disinfectant onto the wound that had opened up again. "What on earth do you keep doing to yourself?"

"I don't know." he hissed in response, "It just opens up on its own!"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were purposely doing strenuous stuff so you can stay here longer." she teased as she placed the gauze pad on his stomach.

"Yeah, I'm intentionally putting myself in pain just to hang out with a human." he muttered sarcastically, "So what did Uta-san say?"

"Can you sit up straight?" she asked him, Ayato did as she asked and sat up allowing her to wrap the bandage around him, "He said he hadn't heard anything like that in these parts but he'd get a friend to look into it and let me know."

"You're pretty close to him, huh?" he said in a low voice. Emily froze for a second, her arms around Ayato's waist and her face practically against his chest, she could feel each breath he took and hear the vibrations of his voice rumbling as he spoke.

"Uh, yeah." she said trying not to think about how close she was to him, "He used to come here a lot before I was born, and then even more so after."

"So he's kinda like the cool uncle who's not actually related to you, yeah?"

"More like the older brother I never had, or knew I had I guess." she replied securing the bandage and leaning back a touch to quickly, "Is that too tight?"

Ayato looked down to assess the job she'd done and patted his dressed wound lightly, "Nah, it's good. Siblings ain't as good as people make 'em out to be, take it from me." he said falling back against the couch again and staring at the ceiling. Emily gazed up at him curiously, she didn't remember much about him when she was younger, despite them being the same age. But she did remember how close she and Touka were once, until they both grew up and went down different roads. The one thing that had remained the same was the love Touka felt for her little brother, even know she knew the older girl would be worried sick about him even if she didn't show it.

"What happened?" she asked softly staring at her knees.

"Huh?" Ayato asked. Emily shook her head, she hadn't meant to ask the question out loud in the first place. Packing up her medical kit, she stood and walked over to the kitchen. Her mind was an even bigger mess than before and she had new unanswered questions.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked Ayato from the kitchen.

"I get the feeling you're going to anyway." he replied from the couch. Emily pursed her lips and leaned against the cool refrigerator door, "What happened between you two?"

"Me and my idiot sister? I guess I couldn't stomach her sick desire to be human. After everything they did to us, destroyed our family, she wanted to play fucking house with them?! Disgusting. She actually has a human friend, did you know? Kosaka something. She goes to school and acts like she's one of them..." he trailed off but the anger in his voice hadn't died out. Emily knew that the way he was now, asking the wrong questions could send Ayato into a hate filled rage. If she wanted to know more she was going to have to be careful.

"You didn't want to go to school then?" she asked curiously. Ayato scoffed, "Fuck no. Playing pretend isn't my thing."

"Yeah, I can see that." Emily said softly but this sudden outburst had her more than confused, was it her imagination or was Ayato speaking to her like she was a fellow Ghoul?

"Honestly, I don't get why we have to do so much to blend in. We're forced to eat fucking foul shit that makes us sick, behave and talk like them just so we're not slaughtered." Ayato stood suddenly and walked over to where Emily was and stood before her, "Why are we the ones forced to do this shit anyway? Humans are the ones on the goddamn menu, not us. What?"

Emily blinked and lowered her head, hiding behind her hair trying to think of a gentle way to say what she was thinking without pissing Ayato off, "Well it's just that you keep saying them when talking about humankind, not you..."

Ayato stepped away and turned his back to her, "Look, don't get all weird on me but I guess I just don't really see you as a just some fucking pathetic human. You called us people, no human has ever said that before. We've always been monsters or worse. I don't think I hate you as much as your kind."

"But you still hate me?" Emily asked hoping that if she could hear him say it then she'd be able to get over these ridiculous feelings she was experiencing. If he said he hated her, she could live normally again.

But he didn't. He didn't say anything for a long time. Ayato just stood there with his back to her, staring at the floor, completely silent. And then, barely a whisper he said; "I don't know..."

6.30pm

I don't know. Those three words hung heavy in the air between Emily and Ayato. Three words that could send both their worlds crumbling around them. He'd said them and she had forced him. The truth - the truth she had been rejecting and the truth he had been denying. I don't know if I hate you. I don't know if I like you. Both of them had had their families taken away by the CCG, by humans yet they were still from opposite sides of the tracks. She was a human, trapped by those sworn to protect, he a Ghoul hunted by those sworn to attack. But their enemy was the same. So did that make her someone he could trust, or another enemy. Ayato didn't know. He didn't know anything anymore. He'd spent years of his life hating humans only to meet this one again after so long and have everything he knew thrown into question. Emily was human yet she knew how terrible it was to lose everything to the CCG, to be terrified for your life each day and never knowing if this one was the day you die. She knew how brutal Ghouls could be as well and she still didn't hate them for it. Ishihara Emily was a better person than he could ever hope to be; gentle, kind...loving. Just like him. Just like his goddamn father. That was why he hated her.

But she saw through the bullshit. She saw through his bullshit. She saw his pain and sympathized with him, shared it with him. She had reached out to him, that one light in the darkness calling to him. Saving him. He'd tried to kill her, he'd wanted kill her, but she didn't fear him, she didn't hate him, she continued to worry and care for him. That was why he liked her. No.

That was why he loved her.

He hated and loved Emily. He couldn't stand to be around her, but he didn't want to be without her. She contradicted everything he believed in.

These feelings...he'd felt them before but he'd forgotten them, forgotten her. Ever since he'd seen her in Anteiku all those years ago, knowing she was a human child he'd hated her. Humans had taken away his parents, his childhood, his home. But she'd smiled and given him a flower. He'd forgotten about that. Each time she'd visit, she would always ask where he was and if he wanted to play. He would stay in the shadows and watch from a distance. Never interacting with her even though he wanted to. Goddamn it!

6.30pm

I don't know. It was those three words that tore at Emily. Ayato was unsure how he felt about her. She shouldn't have cared, shouldn't have bothered trying to find out what he thought because it had ended worse than she'd planned. She had believed he would hate her and then she could forget him. But those three words were the sword of Damocles hanging over her head.

But she needed to know. There was an unyielding desire to find out for herself, a desire that clawed and sank its teeth deep into her soul, refusing to let go. Now that he had said those words, it only grew more powerful. Kirishima Ayato. The boy so angry he was like an oncoming storm of nightmares. But, just like a storm, there was an eye - a calm place hidden behind the rage. She had seen that, she had felt that. It was there within him.

Forgetting the world outside her walls and shutting off her opposing thoughts for a moment, Emily gave into the itch. Stepping forward towards Ayato, she reached out to him. He didn't move, didn't flinch, as her fingertips met his cool flesh, dancing lightly over his back, sides and came to rest against his chest and stomach. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder blade gently. Ayato stool motionless and allowed her to embrace him.

"Emily..." he said softly, his voice low but stern, "I don't want to do this."

"I know." she replied. She didn't know how long they stood like that, each trying to figure out the moral philosophy of their situation, each unwilling to part from the other but neither wanting to stay that way.

For the first time in a long time she could feel something instead of just being able to touch; his cool skin beneath her heated flesh, the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, the minute spasmodic flexes of his abdomen, his muscles tense and relax unconsciously. She was Eve in the garden of Eden and he was the Forbidden Fruit. She knew if she did more than this it would be disastrous for both of them.

"I'm leaving tomorrow." Ayato said in the same tone as before. Emily closed her eyes,

"I know..."