Outside the Hamada residence, 12:43pm

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ayato asked Emily again. With the discovery of Isao and Akihiro still being alive, Emily had decided that it was time to tell Toshio the truth - the truth about her, Ayato and what really happened to his brothers. Toshio had been through enough and it was time to put an end to his suffering, no matter how hard it was going to be.

"Yeah, he deserves to know the truth." she said softly, "I owe him that much." She reached for the doorbell but Ayato stopped her,

"Wait, before you do that let me ask you one more thing." he said, staring down at her, "Am I going to be attacked?"

It was a good question - if Emily was going to tell Toshio the whole truth about herself, included what Ayato really was and her relationship with him, it was going to be dangerous considering Toshio had literally been groomed all his life to become a living anti-ghoul weapon. She bit her lip and prayed that Isao was right and Toshio would be understanding.

She pressed the doorbell, the low buzzing echoed around them but there was no answer. Emily frowned and rang again. Still nothing. Were they out?

"They could be at the hospital." Ayato supplied seeing the look on her face. Emily pulled out her phone and dialed Toshio's number. He picked up after the third ring; "Hello?"

"Toshi?" she asked, "Where are you?"

"Oh, hey Em. I'm uh...Well, I'm at the CCG actually." he replied.

"What?" Why was Toshio at the CCG?

"Yeah, I can't really say too much about it, but they worked something out with school and I'm being transferred to the Academy." he said, "Did you know they found Aki?"

"That's wonderful news." Emily said forcing herself to sound positive, "Hey listen, do you think you could come around whenever you're finished what you're doing? I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there around five." he told her, "I gotta go, Arima's on his way here."

"Arima?" she asked openly shocked.

"Yeah - I'll tell you about it later. See you." he said and before she could answer he hung up.

"You don't look so thrilled." Ayato remarked quietly. Emily looked up at him, "Toshio's joined the CCG and Arima Kishou has something to do with it."

"Ah shit...I think you should reconsider the truth telling." he said as they walked down the street, "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for you telling him about us, but you may wanna rethink the whole 'the guy I'm leaving you for is a Ghoul and so's your brother' thing."

"You know I can't do that, Ayato." she replied softly, "If I'm going to tell Toshio the truth, it's going to be the whole truth." Ayato stopped in front of her and held her shoulders,

"Did you hit your head or something recently?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her, "You know I can't let you do that."

"You were going to let me do it just then." she argued back.

"That was before we found out how deep he was in with the CCG." he told her, "Do you really think he'll be cool when you tell him that not only am I a Ghoul but I work for Aogiri, the organization responsible for the death of his father? Also...if Tatara ever found out..."

Emily put her hands on her hips, "It sounds to me like you're scared."

"You know what? Yeah, I am scared. I'm scared that someone is going to try and kill you and there's no way I'll be able to protect you." he told her, "But hey, you wanna commit suicide, be my guest." Shoving his fists into the pockets of his jacket, Ayato walked away leaving Emily to return home by herself.

She understood why he was worried about telling Toshio everything, but he didn't know Toshi like Emily did. If she explained everything to him, if he found out Isao was part Ghoul now, surely he wouldn't retaliate against her or Ayato. Maybe she could even introduce him to Renji and Uta? She shook her head, she was getting ahead of herself. First, she had to tell him, then she could see what would happen from there.

Her biggest concern was how he was going to take her breaking up with him. Emily still loved Toshio and he would always have a place in her heart, but her feelings towards Ayato were stronger.

Emily's apartment, 3pm

Ayato hadn't returned home after their fight and Emily believed he probably wouldn't until he'd calmed down, but she was worried about what he was doing. Ayato's temper was both his strength and his weakness - when he was pissed, he could kick someone through a wall. He'd done it before. But he also didn't think straight, he would pick a fight with just about anyone when he was mad enough. Emily was worried that one day he would attempt to fight someone way stronger than himself and wind up dead - just like when he and Kaneki fought. Ayato underestimated Kaneki's strength and was almost killed for that mistake. Though she knew he probably wouldn't seek him out this time, she hoped that he was just sitting down somewhere alone.

The doorbell disturbed her from her thoughts of Ayato and she remembered that Toshio was coming around. Isao stuck his head out of his bedroom door as she passed him,

"Are we expecting someone?" he asked her. She'd gone straight to her bedroom when she'd arrived home and hadn't told Isao or Hiko that Toshio was coming over.

"Yeah, um...You might want to wait here for a little while..."

"It's not the CCG is it?" Isao asked her, a crease forming on his brow. A few days ago they had received word from Renji that the CCG were conducting investigations into both Isao's, and Akihiro's and the other Investigators' disappearances. Whilst Akihiro had been found, or rather delivered courtesy of Hikari, his story of what had happened deeply concerned the CCG. Thus, it was only natural they would want to question Emily given her relationship to the Hamada family.

"Not exactly..." she replied, "Just wait here until I call you, okay?"

Isao nodded and retreated back into his room.

Emily had just reached the front door when it opened, revealing a slightly disheveled Ayato and smiling Toshio. "Don't worry about it." Ayato said as he walked inside and went straight to the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Emily asked, looking between him and Toshio who was sliding off his shoes.

"Oh, he turned up while I was waiting for you to answer the door." Toshio said running a hand through his hair, "I didn't know he lived here."

"Oh, um yeah..." Emily said unsure of Ayato had told Toshio, "Do you want a drink?"

"Coffee would be great." Toshio said much to Emily's surprise. She turned, about to go make a pot of coffee when she noticed Ayato was three steps ahead of her already. She pursed her lips at him, getting the feeling that he was still pissed off.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Toshio said closing the door behind him, getting her attention again.

Emily took his hand and led him over to the sofa, "A few things, and you might want to sit down for all of it." she said earning a confused look from him, "First of all, and how you answer will determine what I tell you," she said glancing towards Ayato, "How deep in are you with the CCG?"

If she hadn't been watching him, she never would have noticed Ayato tense slightly. She hoped he would understand that this was her way of compromising with him.

Toshio reclined against the back of the couch and sighed, "I guess you could say fairly deep now. They want me to start as soon as I've graduated, working under Arima himself. I know I always said that I would be more comfortable with desk job but after what happened to my father and brothers...I feel like I need to be doing more."

"So your views on Ghouls have changed?" Emily asked curiously. Toshio sighed and stared up at the ceiling,

"They killed my father, kidnapped Akihiro and did something awful to Isao..." he said, "I hate the ones responsible for that but I'm not naive enough to hate their entire race. I know that humans are responsible for as many Ghoul deaths as they are for ours. I never agreed with my father's views, and I don't agree with the consensus of the CCG either, but I can't just sit on the fence anymore."

Emily eyed Ayato curiously as he placed two cups of coffee in front of her and Toshio, and then sat down on the arm chair closest to the door. His deep blue eyes met her gaze before he spoke,

"What if there was another option?" Ayato asked, "One that didn't require you to senselessly slaughter innocents?"

"If there was such a thing, I'd be open to it." Toshio replied, "But as far as I know, there's no such thing within the CCG."

"I'm not talking about the CCG." Ayato said, "I'm talking about teaming up with both Ghouls and humans and fighting for a way both could coexist together."

Toshio glanced between him and Emily, "Is there really such a thing?"

"Ayato..."

"Tell him, Emily." Ayato said, interrupting her before turning his cold stare onto Toshio, "I'm willing to trust you right now because Emily's convinced me, don't make me regret it."

"What are you talking about?" Toshio asked.

"My father was a Ghoul, Toshi." Emily said softly, "He believed that both Ghouls and humans could live together in peace, they just needed to be shown that such a thing was an option so he created this place, Blue Lotus. It's a safe house, completely neutral in human and Ghoul affairs. When he died, he left it to me but right now I'm in serious trouble and I need your help."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?" Toshio asked. Emily smiled at him - it was just like Toshio to focus on her well being instead of her past or upbringing.

"You've heard of Aogiri, right?" Ayato asked, Toshio nodded, "They want to take over the 20th Ward and until now they've been unsuccessful due to the efforts of another Ghoul organization."

"I assume we'll get back to the second Ghoul organization, so what changed?" Toshio asked.

"They found me." Emily replied leaning forward to stare into her coffee, "I'm so, so sorry Toshi. Because of me, you and your family were put in danger."

"The King blackmailed Emily by threatening to kill everyone she loves unless she agreed to join Aogiri." Ayato clarified, "To save you, your brother, me and everyone else, she gave up her father's legacy to the enemy."

"Emily...Why didn't you tell me this before now?" Toshio asked as he squeezed her shoulder gently, "I could have helped you..."

"She didn't want to involve anyone." Ayato replied for her.

"You seem pretty involved." Toshio remarked giving Ayato a look.

"I didn't give her much choice, and neither did Aogiri."

Toshio frowned, "You've lost me..."

"Ayato's a Ghoul, Toshi. He works for Aogiri." As soon as the word Ghoul left Emily's lips, Toshio was on his feet, shoving Emily behind him protectively.

"Called it." Ayato muttered darkly as Emily tried to get out of Toshio's grasp.

"Has he hurt you?" Toshio asked, glaring at Ayato.

"Not for a lack of trying." Ayato responded before Emily had a chance to say anything.

"Get out before I hurt you." Toshio warned him harshly. Ayato scowled at him and stood, smirking, "Oh, I've been waiting for you to give me a reason to kill you."

"Guys, stop it!" Emily cried, pulling her hand free from Toshio's hold and moving to stand between them.

"Emily, get away from him!" Toshio demanded earning a laugh from Ayato.

"What? Afraid I'm gonna hurt her?" he asked but then seemed to reconsider, "Actually, he's right, Emily move. I don't want to accidentally cut you while I'm killing your boyfriend."

"The hell is going on out here?"

It was that voice that stopped the world for Toshio. He froze, forgetting Ayato for the moment and turned towards his missing brother.

"Isao?" he asked, his voice breaking slightly. Isao was just as shocked as Toshio was and immediately covered his eye. But it was too late; Toshio had seen the single kakugan.

"Isao...what did they do to you?" he whispered. Isao looked down, his expression was one of absolute defeat - Emily had wanted to prepare both of them to avoid this kind of thing, but it had spiraled out of her control too fast.

"I didn't want you to see me like this..." Isao said softly. When he looked up again, there was his old determination gleaming fiercely in his eyes, "But I won't sit back and let you talk to Ayato like this."

"What?" Toshio asked, "You're protecting him? You can't be serious - he's a Ghoul!"

"So am I!" Isao yelled back angrily, before he softened again, "At least in part...I would be dead, or worse, if it wasn't for him. He's not your enemy here, Toshio. I heard what you said but right now you're letting your prejudices towards Ghouls get in the way of the truth. If you don't trust Ayato that's fine, but at least trust Emily and me. Hear us out."

"Toshi, Isao's right. Ayato may be a Ghoul but he's not one of the bad guys." Emily said softly, "He's risked his life more times than I can count for me and he still is, right now with you because I asked him to trust me."

Toshio sighed deeply; she could understand his apprehension. If neither of them had admitted that Ayato was with Aogiri, perhaps Toshio wouldn't have reacted the way he did but he needed to know that there were good people amongst Ghouls. If he could accept Ayato, she knew he would be able to accept Uta, Kaneki and those at Anteiku.

Toshio faced Ayato again, "I'm not one of those people who can just take the word of other's easily. I'm willing to believe what my brother and Emily say about you but you have to prove it."

Ayato huffed, "Same goes to you. You're the enemy, I'm not going to just trust you because someone tells me to, no matter who that someone is."

A small smile broke out on Toshio's face, "Well, at least we can agree on something. Alright, I'm willing to hear you out completely. Keep talking."

I know it's only a short update but I felt there was already waaay too much dialogue happening.

There's only going to be a couple more chapters after this one until it ends T.T BUT there is definitely going to be a sequel and while Emily will still be the protag, it will be a TG :RE/PARASYTE crossover - Ghouls vs. Parasytes ;) I would have posted a sneak preview but unfortunately the laptop containing everything decided to die (which is why I haven't updated anything for months). I'll consider doing it with the next update.

As I said last chapter, there's going to be more Uta and Renji cuteness, possibly more Hide, Arima makes a dramatic comeback and the mysterious being throughout the story will revealed. Though in the immediate following chapter Toshio will continue to find out what Emily has been hiding from him, there may or may not be a more intense Toshio vs. Ayato moment and Kaneki returns.

Thank you for your continued support and as always, I love you all.