Commission of Counter Ghoul Main Headquarters, 12:43pm

Emily bowed to the tall, intimidating, stone faced man in white once again as the two stood by the door leading to the world outside and, incidentally, where Ayato was waiting for her.

"Thank you again for going out of your way to help me." she said to him. Arima Kishou raised his hand, "It was nothing, really. Are you sure about going to the 13th Ward, though? It's dangerous for someone like you."

"I appreciate your concern, Arima-san," Emily said straightening and tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "But I'll be fine."

"I admire your resolve." he said before delving his hand into the pocket of his white pants and fishing out a white piece of card, "Despite that, if you do run into any kind of trouble, call this number." he told her as he wrote on it and passed it to her. Emily looked down at the neat, elegant writing and wondered who's number it was. Thanking him again, Emily put the card with the address Hide had given her and rushed across the street to where Ayato was waiting.

"What did he give you?" His disjointed voice asked when she stopped at the small ally way he'd disappeared into.

"Nothing important." she replied knowing that if he knew anyone of the CCG had given her anything at all it would be bad news, never mind the infamous genius Investigator himself. Ayato appeared from a gap between two buildings and gave her a look of disbelief, however he didn't openly question her.

"So now where are we going?" he asked her instead. Emily took out the piece of paper Hide had scrawled on and handed it to him, "The 13th? Jeez...This friend of yours have a death wish or something?"

"Or something." Emily replied looping her arm through his and leading him back out onto the sidewalk. Ayato shoved the paper into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone, "Who are you calling?"

"Hiko." Ayato replied, "I'm telling him to meet us there

"It's broad daylight, do you really think something serious will happen?" Emily asked incredulously. Ayato gave her a sidelong glance,

"In Yamori's old Ward? Absolutely."

13th Ward, 2pm

Emily and Ayato stepped off the train and immediately realized just what kind of hell they'd walked into. Everyone, everywhere seemed to be on edge. People kept their eyes to the ground and walked fast if they were alone, others hung in groups and watched with preditory eyes. Emily found herself clutching Ayato's arm tighter as they ascended the steps. Ayato, on the other hand, seemed almost completely relaxed with his hands shoved deep into his pockets and a scowl on his face.

"Don't make eye contact with anyone." he told her, "And don't say anything. If we get into trouble, let me handle it. If I tell you to run, you run. Got it?"

"Yeah..." Emily replied softly and slid her hand into her pocket to make sure the card Arima had given her was still there. Despite her earlier reservations about it, she was now happy he'd made her take it.

Hiko met them at the station entrance and fell in step on Emily's other side, making sure she was safely kept between the two Ghouls. There were worse things in the 13th Ward than Doves.

The three of them walked straight to the apartment complex Hide had written down for her and avoided any action that would end in trouble. More than once someone had called out to her or tried to pick a fight with Ayato, both Ghoul and human alike. Thankfully, he kept his temper in check and they arrived in one piece.

Emily rang the doorbell while Ayato and Hiko stood at her back keeping a watchful eye on everything. After a few minutes with no answer, she rang again.

"He's probably not here." she said quietly and stared at her feet. Ayato half turned to face her,

"He's here. I can smell him." he told her and then shoved her out of the way, "Stay behind me." Emily was about to question him when he kicked the door open, breaking the multitude of locks and half of the wooden frame.

Ayato walked into the dark apartment and scanned the room, searching. Emily hesitantly followed and clutched the back of his jacket - there was no telling what state Isao was in so she wasn't taking any chances.

"Who's there?" a hoarse voice called out from the shadows. Emily jumped and spun in the direction of the voice, Ayato stayed where he was and Hiko stepped into the door way.

"Isao?" she called softly. A bundle of blankets and clothes moved in the corner and a kakugan glowed red in the darkness.

"E-Emily?" he asked, his voice shaking with madness, "Get out...You can't be here..."

"Isao, I'm here to help you. You have to come with me." She told him and took a step towards the mound of clothing.

"Get out!" He cried jumping to his feet and running forward. Ayato moved to intercept and kicked Isao into the fridge, the door of which crumpled in on itself. Isao sank to the ground, blood dripping from his lips and moaned.

"Ayato." Emily hissed at him, "Did you really have to go that far?"

"He's starving. He probably hasn't eaten anything since being released and coffee only does so much. Do you really think I'm just going to stand here and let him attack you?" he replied. Emily pursed her lips and folded her arms but didn't say anything. He was right after all.

Isao chuckled quietly on the floor, "You're pretty strong." he said and looked up through his hair at Ayato, "That's good."

Groaning, he struggled to his hands and knees and crawled forward. Ayato held his arm out in front of Emily, shielding her should Isao try to attack again and stopping her from going over to him. Isao reached up and clutched Ayato's shirt, "Kill me...Please...I don't want to hurt anyone else."

"Isao!" Emily cried and ducked under Ayato's arm, "Listen to me, I can help you. You won't have to hurt anyone. Just please..."

"No!" he cried and pushed Emily away, she slid across the floor and hit her head against the wall. She tasted blood.

Ayato lifted Isao to his feet and scowled at him, "You want me to kill you? Fine, trash like you doesn't deserve to live if all you're going to do is give up when shit gets hard."

"I just...don't want to hurt people." Isao whimpered, a tear rolling down his face.

"Which people are you talking about? Humans or Ghouls? Because, as a Dove, I bet you killed a hell of a lot of the latter and didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about it. You murdered us for doing the only thing we could to survive, yet your kind kill each other for fun. Are those the precious people you're trying to protect by ending your life? Or are you simply too weak to live with yourself now part of you is the thing you hate?" Ayato growled, gripping Isao's t-shirt tighter, "People like you piss me off. Always complaining about how hard your life is, but tell me, what was it like growing up without living in constant fear of your life? What was it like growing up with parents who loved you and not having to fight every fucking day just to live through it? Shit like you has no right to complain."

"Ayato..." Emily said softly but he didn't look at her, he continued to glare at Isao.

"Emily risked her life to find you, your brother is going through hell because of you. Have some fucking decency and take responsibility. But hey, if your conscious isn't eating away at you and you still want to die then I'll be more than happy to oblige." He continued and dropped Isao to the ground, "So what'll it be, trash? Will you come with us or am I going to kill you?"

Emily stared at Ayato; a year ago he wouldn't of hesitated to kill Isao. As soon as he attacked, the old Ayato would have killed him then and there, not give him a lesson in morality. He really had changed a lot.

"Well?" he said still scowling down at Isao crumpled on the floor.

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Isao said quietly, his voice shaking, "But if you really can help me..."

"We can." Ayato said, "Hiko, take him back to Blue Lotus."

"Sir." Hiko said striding forward immediately and helping Isao to stand. Together they walked out of the dark apartment and into the sunlight. When they were gone, Ayato crouched in front of Emily, "Did he hurt you?"

Emily shook her head, a mistake she soon realized when the room started spinning, "I'll be fine." Ayato sighed and ran a hand through his hair before letting it drop with the other between his knees.

"You can't lie to me, you know." he said softly. Emily smiled at him, "Really, I'll be okay."

He bit his lip and let it slide, knowing that arguing with her would be a waste of time, "Alright then. Let's go feed your friend." he said and helped her to stand up.

"Thank you." she said when they left the apartment complex. Ayato had his hands in the pockets of his jacket and Emily had looped her arm through his.

"For what?" he asked, blowing a disobedient lock of hair away from his eyes.

"For what you said to Isao." she said, "And for helping me do this."

Ayato faced away from her, "Whatever..."

She wanted to say something more, to tell him just how much it meant to her that he was with her on this and for helping Isao but what he said next stunned her.

"I'd do anything for you so...yeah..." he muttered. Emily smiled and moved closer to him, hugging his arm.

20th Ward, 3:45pm

Ayato kept himself between the starving half-breed Emily called Isao and the woman he loved. If Isao tried to attack Emily again, Ayato would put him in his place no matter what Emily said.

"Renji?" Emily said into the phone behind him, "Yes...Yeah, I know...Was he really that bad? I'll go see him soon. Renji, I need you to stop talking for a second and listen to me...Thank you...We have Isao and he needs help. Never mind about that, I'll explain it later just please bring some food? Thank you, nii-san."

"What was that about?" Ayato asked when Emily hung up and moved to stand beside his leaning place.

"Apparently Uta was homicidal when he found out Aogiri had kidnapped me, and even worse when Kaneki told him I wasn't leaving. He's closed HySy and disappeared." she told him. Ayato huffed, "What's with you and people running off?"

Emily hugged herself and looked down at the ground, "You don't know Uta like I do..."

Ayato got the feeling from her words that what she really meant to say was he's dangerous - but Uta was a Ghoul, of course he was dangerous to humans. Ghouls ate humans. Still, she looked worried about him, "You wanna go see him after we've dealt with this?"

"Mmm. Maybe if he sees me in one piece he'll calm down." she replied, "I know this is a stupid thing to say, but it'd be better if I went alone."

"Em, you know I can't let you do that." Ayato argued immediately; it wasn't that he didn't trust Uta around Emily, he knew that she'd known him for most of her life and he'd never tried to hurt her before, but he also knew that Tatara and Eto had eyes and ears everywhere. If they saw Emily out by herself the ramifications wouldn't be pretty for any of them.

"I know...I just..." she began and then looked up at him with those beautiful blue eyes that haunted his sleep, "I just don't want you getting hurt."

"Me?"

"If Uta sees me with you, he could try to kill you." Emily said softly.

"What, why? As far as I know I haven't done anything to piss him off." he said.

"You're with Aogiri, Ayato. He'll see you as an enemy, maybe even blame you for kidnapping me since he knows I trust you." she told him, "Uta's much stronger than he seems, and even though you're pretty strong yourself, you're no match for him."

"Look, you're not going alone. I'll wait outside if I have to but I'm not letting you go all over the city looking for him by yourself. It's bad enough I let you go into the CCG main headquarters, we were lucky Tatara doesn't know about it, but I can't let you do this." he told her harshly. Emily sighed and reached up to stroke his cheek,

"I know. Okay, we'll do it your way. Uta, at least, is willing to listen to me whereas no one has any chance of talking Tatara out of maiming one of us." she said quietly.

"Good." was all Ayato said before the doorbell rang.

"That'll be Renji." she said and padded off to answer the door. Though he was now part of Emily's life, he was beginning to see just how little he knew about her and those she called her family. Uta, for example, Ayato only knew he was soft spoken and brilliant at making masks. He was a little weird but generally seemed harmless. Emily telling him that not only would Uta try to kill him but that Ayato would lose against him was surprising to say the least.

In his eyes, Emily was something soft and gentle, something he had to protect at all costs. She was the embodiment of the last shred of good in his life. But when he saw her stand up, that defiant look in her eyes as she stared at him, after Tatara had tossed her at his feet had made him wonder if he really knew her as well as he originally thought. Her determination to collect her friend from one of the most dangerous parts of Tokyo was just the beginning of a strength he didn't know she possessed.

He watched as she disappeared beneath the muscled arms and long coat belonging to Yomo Renji and wondered whether he had already witnessed what Ayato was just now seeing in her.

4:00pm

Emily opened the door and was immediately wrapped in a warm embrace courtesy of Renji. He hugged her tightly like he hadn't seen her in years instead of weeks.

"I was so worried about you." he told her softly. She knew then that her sudden disappearance had shaken him more than he let on.

"I'm sorry." was the only thing she could think of to say even if it hadn't really been her fault. It wasn't like she went out of her way to get kidnapped by Aogiri. Renji let her go and stepped inside, quickly eyeing off the three being in the room. His sharp gaze moved from Ayato, who was stilling leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and watching the interaction between her and Renji through wary eyes, to Hiko sitting on the kitchen bench casually and finally to Isao who had been tossed on the floor by her couch in a heap again.

"Here." Renji said holding out a small cooler bag to Ayato, "There's sugar in there as well." Ayato waited a moment, just staring at Renji before he finally pushed off the wall to take the cooler. He didn't say anything and just started unpacking everything in silence.

"Thank you." Emily said squeezing her older brother's hand tightly, "I owe you."

"You can start by telling me exactly what is going on here." he told her immediately, making Hiko look up and slide off the bench. She felt Renji tense in response until Ayato called Hiko's name and he returned to leaning against the bench.

"It's kind of a long story..." Emily began slowly.

"I have the day off." he replied and took a seat on one of the arm chairs, obviously indicating that he wasn't going anywhere until she told him what he wanted to hear. Emily sighed and moved to the other chair.

"Here, drink this." Ayato said as he, too, joined them with a steaming mug of coffee and put it on the small table for Isao, then took a seat on one of the arms of Emily's chair.

"Emily works for us." he told Renji bluntly.

"Are you insane?" Renji asked her, his face void of any emotion he may have been feeling beneath his stone mask, "You joined Aogiri?"

"Well...not exactly..." she replied and played with a thread on her jeans.

"Tatara, our leader or rather the King's right hand, he didn't give her a choice." Ayato explained for her, "Either Emily joined Aogiri or he'd kill everyone she loved - her human friends, Anteiku, you and Uta. Not only that but he would kill the Investigator she knew in the group they're keeping underground for food first, in front of her just to show he was serious. That, thankfully, didn't happen."

"Investigator?" Isao asked, his eyes meeting Emily's, "Aki's alive?"

"Yeah." she told him, "Or he was when I left. I'm sorry, Isao, I couldn't save him."

Isao lowered his head and stared at the dark liquid in his mug, "I know..." he said softly, "Just knowing he survived this long and is still human is enough for me."

"We can protect ourselves, you know that." Renji said to Emily sadly, "You didn't have to do this."

"Yes, I did." she argued, "You and Uta are strong, I know, but do you really think I could just stand by at let Tatara kill Touka, Irimi, Koma and the Manager? Or Toshio, Isao and Akihiro who have already been through hell? Or Chloe who wouldn't stand a chance against the weakest member of Aogiri let alone Tatara himself? I couldn't do that. My parents raised me better than that. I couldn't live with myself if I let that happen."

Renji seemed to consider her words for a moment before turning his attention to Ayato, "What about you? What are you doing in all of this?"

"As far as Tatara knows I'm just a babysitter making sure she doesn't do anything stupid." he replied easily although Emily glanced at Hiko who had moved from the kitchen and was now resting his elbows against the back of the couch listening quietly. He didn't seem like he was surprised at all by how Ayato was talking.

"And what he doesn't know?" Renji asked with an arched eyebrow - the only emotion he'd shown since Emily had opened the door.

"I'm sure Kaneki has already told you, right?" Ayato asked.

"He might have, but I want to hear you say it." Renji replied, "She is my little sister, after all."

"I'm not going to let anything happen to her. Be it a random Ghoul attack or Tatara himself. I'll die before I let that happen." Ayato said looking Renji dead in the eye, "I don't care who or what it is."

"Let me ask you one thing," Renji said leaning forward and knotting his hands between his knees, "Do you love her?"

Ayato didn't hesitate, "Yes."