Ehem. Prepare yourself, because I'm about to shamelessly advertise the game my brother made. He recently finished the official demo and has posted up on GameJolt, and so far the people who've done playthroughs of it have thought of it highly. It's called The Horologist's Legacy. I seriously recommend you go play it, because it's freaking good. He and his friend have spend at least the past five, six years on it, and they plan to release the entire game soon. Go check it out!

Also, enjoy this creation of my own.

The door creaks when I lay my hand on it. Uncertainty makes me glance back, but the boy who'd brought me is already vanished. Turning back to the door, I breathe in deeply and release the breath, sliding the door open. What meets me is dark emptiness. After a moment of hesitation, I step inside. I don't close the door behind me so I at least have the moonlight to see by, but the shadows still stick to the walls and floor stubbornly to obstruct my vision. Quick glances up and down the corridor reveal nothing.

I clear my throat. "Hello?"

Not even my own voice echoes back at me. I wait for a couple more seconds, then lower myself onto the ground in the doorway. It's best I keep off my feet as much as possible. I stretch my legs out in front of me with a moan and wearily lean my head against the door frame.

What am I supposed to do now? I don't have much of a choice but to wait for something to happen, but what will that something be? I can hope all I want that Hanako was the one who pulled the strings to get me here, but it could just as easily not be her as be her. The only hints I have are the possibility of all this being connected somehow to Aogiri Tree, and that whoever set it up knows I'm human. I'd like to say that last condition narrows the list of suspects significantly, but these days, it feels like everyone knows my species! I'd like to think Hanako never spoke of my being human to the other ghouls in the Aogiri Tree, but who knows? I thought I knew her pretty well up until she disappeared. And the guy from just now very clearly called me human when he first saw me. Surely he wouldn't have been able to tell so quickly unless he'd been told beforehand. I don't think I was bleeding yet, at that point.

So if it's not Hanako who orchestrated this, then what am I going to do? What if it turns out to be one of the ghouls I met while tagging along with Uta to places? I never really found that I liked many, if any, of the people he introduced me to. The only relationship that formed I found enjoyable was the one with Chie, and that happened indirectly.

But what if it is Hanako? What do I do then? Should I hug her? Yell at her? Cry? Laugh? I guess I'm at a loss no matter who it is. Maybe if it turns out to be Uta….which I'm pretty sure it isn't...maybe then I could just thank him and be done with it. Yeah, I think that's basically the only situation I'd be comfortable with. When did he become the one I always turned to? Sure, it happened after Hanako abandoned me, but why him? Why couldn't I just stand on my own two feet?

I chuckle, rolling my injured feet around lazily. I really can't stand on my own two feet right now, can I? It's kinda pathetic, if you think about it.

Suddenly something hits my leg and I jerk, gasping. The bundle thumps to the floor.

"Use that to patch yourself up."

I freeze, my eyes locked on the bundle. What it is ceases to matter when I process the voice speaking. Through monumental effort, I break my gaze away from the object and lift my head to confirm the speaker.

Her black hair shines in the light of the moon, her face shadowed. She stands in a familiar pose with her arms crossed rebelliously. Her eyes waver strangely between their usual chocolate brown and red. Neither of us speaks, simply returning each other's gaze in silence.

"Come here."

She blinks, evidently slightly startled by my words. After a few moments, she complies. When she stops, standing above me, I motion for her to come down to my level. She lowers herself to the floor. When she's sat, facing me, the moonlight finally illuminates her face, and what I see in it is shrouded apprehension. She's trying to act unaffected. Without warning, I knock her in the head with my fist as hard as I can. Although it surely doesn't hurt her at all, the surprise of it causes her to half fall backwards with wide eyes.

"You idiot!" I hiss. "Do you know how much trouble you've caused me?"

She immediately goes on the defensive. "Huh? Why do you think I left!?"

"You caused me way more trouble by leaving!"

"You did that all on your own! I told you not to do anything, but you just had to go and ask Uta for help! You could have at least gone to Touka! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"I was trying to find you!"

"Take a hint, moron! I didn't want to be found! You've got no right to be scolding me!"

I take to my knees, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt. "You fucking abandoned me! Like hell I don't have the right!"

"I only did that to keep you out of danger! But you had to go and make all my efforts moot! You should have stopped when I told you to! Do you have any idea how frustrating taking care of you is?"

"Shut the fuck up!"

Just like that, with me looming over her, we seethe with our teeth bared at one another, growls vibrating in our throats like wild animals. My hands shake, clenched too tight in the cloth of her shirt. Her lips twitch in a snarl.

"Don't," I shatter the deadlock, "you ever do that to me again!"

She looks away, the scowl still distorting her face. "You'd just come chasing after me if I did, whimpering like a lonely puppy dog. Seriously, you haven't changed at all since we've met."

She returns the embrace without hesitation when I lunge at her. She can probably tell how desperate I am from how I practically suffocate her with how tightly I hold her, but to my credit, she's clinging onto me just as hard. If not a little bit harder.

"I hate you," I sniff, my tears running onto her shoulder.

"No you don't."

"Shut up. I'm trying to convince myself."

She snickers, but at the same time her body heaves with sobs. We clutch onto each other with all the might we can without harming the one we're holding. For me, that's as hard as I can. As painful as her grasp on me is, I'd probably be crushed by her full strength and she knows it. I can't help but smile to think that she was careful enough to remember such a thing when we're both such messes like this.

"You're seriously helpless without me around," Hanako laughs. "Honestly, what are you going to do if I really am permanently taken from you?"

"I'd take you back!"

"Aw, come on. If I have a possessive friend like you, I'll never get a boyfriend."

"Then don't get one."

"Sorry, Kiyoko. I don't swing that way." I whack her, eliciting more laughter. "If I don't get a boyfriend, then you can't either."

"Yes I can."

She finally pulls back, at last looking me honestly in the eye. At first, I'm confused, but then her lips pull up in a smirk that defies the redness around her brown eyes. "Is that so? I've always been under the impression that boys never mattered to you."

"But if I want one…"

"Kiyoko, did you find a guy while I was gone?"

"Of course I-" The memory of my kiss cuts me off. She grins and I hang my head. Red in the face, I mumble, "It's...complicated."

"Isn't everything? You'll have to introduce me! Ah, but right now, you need to stop the bleeding. I can smell your blood."

With her appearance, I'd forgotten about my feet. She grabs the bundle she'd thrown at me before and shoves it into my hands. When I finally take the time to look at it, I find it to be a roll of bandages. She informs me, "I have no idea how to use these."

"That's because you always leave your wounds open," I scold, taking the supplies. As I begin to wrap my bleeding foot, I add, "You always only relied on your healing abilities, which aren't exactly great for a ghoul, mind you."

She grimaces. "I never told you that."

"I figured it out anyway. It's your fault for leaving me. With you gone, I was free to ask all the ghoulish questions I wanted."

"I didn't think you'd go soak yourself in ghoul culture. Seriously, you should have just forgotten about me."

"Buuut I didn't. And I discovered that that healing you're so proud of is actually incredibly slow. Uta heals way faster than you do."

"You saw him hurt?"

I snort. "I asked." As if Uta would get hurt. She sulks while I finish tying the bandages and stretch out my leg. "So….what have you been up to, in Aogiri Tree?"

"Nothing much," she pouts, shrugging. "Just a couple of errands."

"Like attacking RC suppressant shipments?"

She narrows her eyes. "How'd you know about that?"

I smile teasingly. "Why should I tell you? You haven't told me how you've been keeping track of me these past few weeks. How'd you know about my job Saturday night?"

She pauses, then sits a bit straighter. "What job?"

"The one I had the night you left me that note."

"I wasn't aware you had a job."

My playful smile falters, a breeze raising goosebumps across my skin. "What do you mean? Didn't you send me that message because…."

"I sent you the note because I was hearing too much about the Mockingbird that suddenly came onto the scene accompanying a clown. I thought you were just integrating yourself among my kind, not taking up jobs! What kind of job are we talking about?"

What...what am I supposed to say? That I played an assassin? That I've shot and killed three people? I just assumed she knew! I thought she just wasn't bothered by it because she has to do that sort of thing to survive! But if she doesn't know, then….what if she's disgusted? What if she's horrified a human would do such a thing?

"Well?" she prods. What if she's angry that I did it to find her? Would she feel responsible? Would she….would she leave me again? I jump when she grabs me by the shoulders. Her eyes search mine. Gnawing nervously on the inside of my cheek, I try to avoid her gaze. When her voice comes out again, the chill in it makes the cool night air feel like a sauna. "Kiyoko. Why aren't you looking at me?"

I shrink away, still unable to lift my gaze. "It...I just ran an errand for someone." Oh, how clever, me. An errand. Like she'll believe that.

"What kind of 'errand'? For who?"

"I just did a favor for someone I met through Uta."

"What kind of favor?"

I clench my teeth as her fingers burrow violently into my shoulders. In pain, I peek over to look at her face. My throat restricts when I find her eyes a furious red. Images flash through my mind of my days as a little kid, when other students would swarm around me like wasps, poking and prodding about my blonde hair. When the upperclassmen at elementary school would glare at me in disgust, and accuse me of being the daughter of a slut. Her stone expression thrusts me back to the days when I would cry at even the slightest provocation. Squeezing my eyes shut, I squeak, "Hanako, you're scaring me!"

Even after she releases me, I can't stop the way my body shakes. I curl in on myself and bury my head in my arms, trying to calm down in vain. Now that it's started, I can't stop remembering how my head would throb after the older kids would beat me, how my legs would sting with every step because of how they kicked me when I fell to the ground. Their laughter still echoes in my ears, despite the years since I've heard it.

"Kiyoko." When Hanako's fingertips brush against me, I instinctively flinch away. Her words strained, she tries again. "Kiyoko, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be like that. I'm just worried. Kiyoko, please look at me."

Gradually, I pry my head up from my self-made ball. What I find is my own fear reflected in her expression. Seriously….she calls me a helpless puppy, but truthfully we're both broken little kids seeking comfort in each other.

Arm quaking, I extend it to invite her to me. She doesn't hesitate and gathers me to her. Just like that, we hug each other in the moonlight and take comfort in the fact that we're finally both back together.

This was fun to write. I was ecstatic about bringing Hanako back into the picture. Just writing the interactions between these two friends is something new for me, and I find it incredibly intriguing. To some extent, I would like to compare the characters to me and my own best friend, but even as I say that I can truthfully say there's actually very little in common. About the only thing that's similar is that one friend gets along with everyone (Kiyoko and my bestie) and the other really could hardly care less about most other people (Hanako and me). Other than that, there's a world of differences, and I'm not just talking species. So anyway, yippee for Hanako's return! But the story isn't over yet! I look forward to seeing you all next chapter!

Till then, Kisses from SnowyNeko! :3 MEOW!