And here's the continuation from the last chapter. A lot happens. I'll let you just read to find out what. So on a completely different topic, my eating habits. I feel like I haven't been eating enough lately. It just seems like the only actual meal I sit down to is dinner. All else, I just sort of have a snack meal a most. I can't help it. I never want to take the time to fix myself a legitimate meal, cause it just feels like a waste of precious time. My nutrition has just been on my mind lately, but what I really need to do is find a solution to it instead of just reminding myself that I need to eat more.

Please enjoy the story.

Once I've collected myself enough to move, I turn on my heel and fly back down the stairs. I only slow my pace towards the exit to prevent suspicions. On my way out, I grab another glass of champagne and down it before I reach the door. I leave the glass with the guard outside and take off down the street, too overwhelmed to think about hailing a cab. It takes all my self control not to vomit up what little content sloshes around in my stomach as I run. Someone stops me when we pass, his face concerned.

"Are you alright?"

I open my mouth, but I don't know how to answer. Frustrated, I shove him away and continue running, one hand clapped over my mouth. I keep going until my foot catches on my dress and I trip, hitting a wall hard.

Panting for breath, I clutch myself as I slide down to the ground. Again! I've done it again! I killed another innocent!

A fear flutters through my mind that if I stay on the ground much longer, I may never convince myself get up again. Shaken, I force myself back to my feet and uneasily continue on. My sore feet carry me, without the help of my conscious will, to the entrance of a certain shop. The sign declares it closed, but I barge in regardless.

"GAH!"

I leap good foot back when a demon face meets me when I open the door. Heart pounding, I stumble and fall unsteadily to the floor. My mouth gulps in air like a fish out of water as Uta takes off the mask.

"We're closed," he notifies me.

"Go to hell," I hiss breathlessly. I pick myself up off the ground and push past him to enter. He turns to face me, silent, while I gaze around the shop. Why did I come here? My eyes finally land back on the shopkeeper, who stares blankly at me with his mask in hand. "I did it. I killed the target like they wanted."

"Is that so?"

"I also killed his lover," I glower. "I shot her just because she happened to be there."

He lowers his gaze, setting aside the mask. I don't move as he approaches me. When he's close enough that he could grab me, he stops, his gaze boring into me. "You did what you should have done."

"I'm turning into a murderer, Uta."

"You told me you were prepared."

"I told you I was willing. How could anyone prepare for something like this?" I pound his chest with my first, gritting my teeth. "It's fucking awful!"

He grabs the hand I've stuck onto him, eliciting a growl deep in my throat. "I won't apologize."

"I'm not asking you to!"

"Kiyoko." My blood boils when he pauses, too aggravated to wait patiently. "This is just how ghouls live. We were all born murderers."

I stiffen, my eyes beginning to burn. I knew ghouls killed. I watched both Hanako and Uta eat people. But after having just taken a life myself, after having killed three people by my own hand and will, those words hit me through a new filter.

"How do you stand it?" I choke. My hand trembles in his. "How can you live with yourself day after day? Do you really…just become numb to it?"

He confirms, "Some do. Some cease to view humans as people, and collapse in on themselves. Some don't know any better, were never taught that human life was sacred. Others endure the pain for the sake of surviving."

Hiccuping and sniveling, I hide my face in his chest. I must look hideous right now. When he lays a gentle hand on my head, I snap. I bawl on him without regard to the running makeup staining his clothes. His shirt wrinkles in the clutch of my fingers. And all the while, he just stands there and lets me cling to him.

Once it's somewhat out of my system, I sniff, "I miss Hanako. I want to see her again."

"You will," he assures me. "You're on the path to do so."

"I want to see her now!"

"The world won't spoil you, Kiyoko."

I push away from Uta, my hand rubbing the saltwater off my face and coming away blackened by mascara. "I know….I know, I just…."

"Are you better?" As he asks, he tilts my chin up to get a better view of my face. I don't understand him, or maybe it's myself I don't understand. His expression never changes, but sometimes it terrifies me. At other times, though, at times like this, something in his face is so comforting. So familiar. Maybe it's the black hair that's as dark as my best friend's, or maybe it's the way there's never hostility in his gaze. It could be the way his skin is so pale that it makes him appear somehow fragile. It could be the fact that I know he's far from it. "Kiyoko?"

Maybe it's the way his lips move when he says my name. Compared to how he dresses in hard black, his lips look incredibly soft, and they move so gracefully. Like they're dancing when he speaks.

And they feel incredibly soft, too, as I press my own lips against them. Some part of me in the back of my mind blares off warning sirens, but I ignore them. I'd rather not think right now. I just dwell on the fact that it feels wonderful to kiss Uta.

As I was the one to initiate it, I'm also the first to pull back. My eyes flutter open to find his half-lidded. Strangely, I don't feel the slightest bit embarrassed. Ever since I started delving into this half of society, I seem to have lost most of my shame.

Opening his eyes to how they are regularly, his repeats, "Are you better?"

"I'm better." I rub off the smudged black under my eyes, sniffing. Well, um….what now?

Answering my unspoken question, he beckons, "Come." He walks past me, taking me by the wrist when I don't immediately move to follow. I obediently let myself be dragged along. He brings me to the back room, to a sink, and wets a towel to offer it to me. Understanding, I take it.

My energy drains as I wash my face, my limbs becoming weak. The cold water seems to strip away my tension along with my makeup. When I'm confident my face is at least somewhat presentable, I hang the towel over the edge of the sink.

"I'm not going to apologize for what I did earlier."

"Good," he approves. "From now on, don't apologise for whatever you do."

I wipe a drop of water off my cheek. "I guess….I'm heading home, then."

"Shall I escort you?"

"I'll be fine."

"Your feet say otherwise."

I'd stopped paying them any mind, but now that he mentions them I'm acutely aware of how much they sting. I slip one out of its shoe to check the bottom of my foot, grimacing. That's how he knew. He could smell the blood. How long was I wandering before I came here?

"How do you plan on helping?" I wonder. "Are you offering to carry me the entire way home?"

"I happen to have a driver's license."

"Oh." That does change things. "I'll take you up on that, then."

He invites me to walk with him, then urges, "Be sure to tend to your injuries once your home. Bleeding so openly is as good as tempting any ghoul you encounter."

I snicker tiredly. "What, you wanna taste?"

He halts. I nearly crash into him, stepping back hastily and sending needles of pain up my leg from my foot. His head turns so I can see his eyes, and what I see turns my blood to ice.

"I've yet to eat this month, Kiyoko," he clarifies in a gravelly voice. The change from his usual smooth tone convinces me to take another step back despite the pain it causes. "Do not make it any more difficult for me than it already is."

Gulping, I nod. "Understood."

Neither of us speak again, not even when he drops me off in front of the apartment complex. I bow as he drives away. Then, hands clenched tight around my purse, I limp back into the building. The woman from behind the desk asks if I need assistance getting to my apartment, but I turn her down. I get the feeling she thinks I must be drunk. It's actually entirely possible I might be.

Now I'm infinitely thankful for the luxury of the elevator. I'm at the door within two minutes, slipping the key into it and tumbling inside. When I flick on the lights, a moan rumbles from the couch.

"Mmm….Kiyoko? You back?"

I throw myself into the nearest chair, ripping of the shoes and finally taking the time to examine the damage to my feet thoroughly. Most of the breaks in the skin are close to the toes, but the soles of my feet are painfully red. Honestly, they aren't bleeding all that much, but the fact that I wore them hard enough to bleed at all is concerning enough. As I'm testing out the tenderness of different areas of my feet, Mami stretches, cracking opening her eyes. It takes her a second to realize what I'm doing.

"Hey, hey! What'd you do?" She flips herself upright, staring wide-eyed at my injuries. She puffs her hair out of her face. "Girl, I've never seen anyone wear their feet so bad in flats before! That's gotta hurt!"

"Sorry, I probably ruined your shoes."

"No worries!" She shakes her head vigorously. Eyes on my feet, she orders, "Wait for a second, and we'll take care of that." She shoots to her feet, at first tottering from the blood rushing out of her head, then grabbing the phone next to the TV. A few minutes later, there's a knock at the door. Mami answers and comes back in with a first aid kit.

"I swear this place is a hotel," I grumble as she extracts the bandages.

"That's kinda the idea," she admits, squeezing some sort of cream onto her fingers. "Now, I don't know if this is gonna hurt, but I think I'm doing this right. Sorry," she grins sheepishly. "This is kinda my first time with this sort of stuff."

"Don't sweat it." I regret those words the second she starts applying the cream, and even more when she begins wrapping it. She cringes right along with me when she pulls the wrap to tightly. Eventually, we end up with both of my feet loosely enclosed in sagging bandages and cold from the over-application of cream.

As we both grimace at the not-so-skilled work, Mami concedes. "Yup, this sucks."

"Doesn't matter," I sigh, biting my lip. "I'll sleep out here tonight. Hopefully it'll be better in a day or two and I can be walking fine again."

Mami brings me blankets and a pillow and tells me not to worry about sleeping in the dress, or the damage done to the shoes. I thank her and she heads off to get herself ready to sleep after flipping off the light. I situate myself on the couch, elevating my feet on the far armrest. In the dim lighting, I roll my foot around gently to study the bandaging. The last time I was wrapped up like this, it was Mom who tended to me. I remember that night I ran home breathless after the night out with Hanako, and my arm was bleeding from when I proved myself human. She'd been so shocked! I can only imagine the expression she would have worn had she figured out I made the cut myself!

It's been so long since I've seen her. Until now, the longest I've been away from Mom was a few days. I think. Actually, had I ever been away from home for more than overnight before? I can't help but laugh to myself. I would have imagined I'd grow homesick quick, but I've barely thought about anything but Hanako for the past few weeks! Now, though…

I rustle around in the purse, pulling out my phone and staring at it. I can hardly just call my mom. As far as I know, she's still in protective custody of the ghoul investigators. Our home and home phone are probably still being monitored, and it's not like she has herself a cell phone. And if she did, it'd be monitored.

I hold the phone to my ear and let it ring. He doesn't pick up. Sighing, I lower it, only to have it startle me by ringing without my prompting. I answer.

"It's been awhile."

"It has," I agree. There hasn't been any reason for me to call Haise, and apparently there hasn't been any reason for him to call me.

"What is it you wanted?" he asks. "I'm afraid we haven't seen much of Black Cat, and we haven't been able to confirm anything except her connection to Aogiri."

"I didn't call about Ha...her," I confess, rubbing my eyes. "I'm...wondering about my mom."

"Oh! Of course! Noriko's just fine."

"She still with you guys?"

"Well, yes," he confirms, "but she's still allowed to go to work. At all other times, though…"

"As long as she's fine."

"How've you been?"

How've I been? How else but horrible? "What does it matter to you? Are you still feeling guilty?"

"It's just...you sound like you've had a rough day. Or night, I guess."

I can't help but laugh to that. "Yeah, you could maybe say that. What? Were you thinking I was having the time of my life hiding from your colleagues? Becoming an honorary ghoul?"

His voice soft, he apologizes, "Sorry. Life must be hard for you right now."

"Damn right it is."

"If it would help…" he begins. "If it would help, I could, maybe, arrange for you and Noriko to meet."

My eyes widen. "Seriously?"

"It couldn't be for long, but I think it'd be doable."

"If you could do that…!" I wouldn't forgive him or anything, but, "I'd be seriously grateful!"

"I can arrange to escort her to school on Monday, and you could meet us when we're away from the building. Or we could pick you up, since we'll be driving."

"Are you sure no one would figure us out?"

"I'll be careful to keep that from happening."

My hand covers my mouth, as if to refuse the fact that I'm smiling. Like the smile doesn't exist if it's covered. I should still be distraught after killing two people, but somehow….somehow, I'm happy. And it feels fantastic after sulking for so long.

So yeah. Lot's of stuff. Did you catch it all? I could easily separate this one chapter into three individual whole scenes that all ended up flowing together. Someone asked me earlier if this was going to be a romance and this is all I can say: There will be elements of it, if this chapter wasn't enough to point that out. I thought I should only confirm it after it came up in the story. All information farther than that my lips are sealed to. You'll just have to read the rest of it to find out if it goes anywhere.

Till then, Kisses from SnowyNeko! :3 MEOW!