Author's Note: Sorry for the cheesiness in part of the chapter. I know Ayato seems a bit out of character (by that I mean A LOT), but I figured he needed to have some soft spot.

=o=

Chapter 13:

"Right this way, little girl." said one of the hotel employee's workers. Immediately, Lith's face went from exhaust to absolute anger.

"I'M NOT A LITTLE GIRL!" screamed Lith, a little too loudly, as people began to stare at her.

"Sorry…" mumbled Lith as her face turned slight shade of red.

When they arrived on the seventh floor, the employee handed Lith her key and left. As she walked in, she noticed that it would've been better if she had stayed in the alley-way.

The bed was untidy, the window was broken, the carpet was full of dirt and the walls were full of stains.

"What the hell is this!?" screamed Lith as she stormed down seven flights of stairs to complain.

=o=

"Geez, I really need to find a job." mumbled Lith as she dragged herself out of the empty alley. She didn't have enough money to afford a decent room so she was kicked out and found that the alley was her only option.

"Sleep well?" asked Ayato as he jumped down into her view of vision. Lith jumped back in surprise. She had caught his scent only a few seconds ago, after all.

"Ne, what do you think of me getting a job?" asked Lith as they began to walk together.

"A job? Are you telling me you don't like to sleep in alleys?" replied Ayato in a sarcastic voice.

"Are you really Ayato? You seem really charming to how I remember you." said Lith. She turned bright red when she noticed that she had called him 'charming' and began to walk at a faster pace.

"Eh, so I'm charming, huh?" he said as he began to walk faster in order to keep up with Lith. Ayato's face had a smirk plastered all over it, making Lith become annoyed.

"You know what, I take that back. You're clearly the annoying person I know." said Lith with a triumphant look on her face.

"Are you serious? Just when I thought things were going my way." he teased. Suspicious, Lith began to pull of Ayato's cheeks.

"It doesn't seem to be a mask…" mumbled Lith in thought as she slowed down.

"I have to go. See you again later." said Ayato, breaking the silence.

"I'm not sure if we can though…" said Lith as she gave a saddened expression.

"Why is that?" asked Ayato in worry as he began to examine the expression on Lith's face.

"I don't think I can stay in one place for too long. I ran away V (again)." At this statement, they both stopped walking. It took a few moments for Ayato to process what this could mean. They were in the middle of an empty street, with only a few people passing by every few minutes.

"I'll probably be jumping from ward to ward, so you might not find me as often." Abate grabbed Lith by her arms. Surprising her, she gave a puzzling look and began to turn red. Like a chain reaction, Ayato coincidentally became red as they continued to stare at each other.

"I'll protect you! I won't let you get hurt. You can stay in Aogiri!" suggested Ayato desperately.

"I can't involve anyone else in this…you're a really important friend of mine (also my only one)." said Lith with a shaky voice. Her eyes began to shine brightly, as though she could start crying at any moment.

"Please…I promise I'll change! I'll get stronger and protect you!"

"Why are you doing this!" mumbled Lith as tears began to stream down her face. Upset about what he had caused her to do, Ayato pulled Lith into a hug.

"Don't cry." he said as his own eyes began to tear up.

"You know, this is getting cheesy…" laughed Lith as she began to sniffle a bit. "Anyways, how long are you going to hug me?"

Ayato immediately let her go, surprised at his actions. He wasn't like this, was he? What was going on? Why was he acting like this?

"Umm, are you ok?" asked Lith nervously as she watched Ayato's expression change quickly. He looked quite hilarious.

Lith began to burst out laughing. Ayato returned to reality when he noticed what he was doing.

"You know what? I'll be fine. I might be small, but I'm still pretty tough!" exclaimed Lith in a more cheerful manner to brighten up the mood. She gently punched Ayato in the arm and sped away, leaving a cloud of dust.

=o=

"Shit, what happened back there?" mumbled Lith as she began to pet a stray cat that was sitting on a large trash bin in the alley. Lith began to walk towards a hidden door in the 4th ward. She knocked on the door with a small sign that read: Employees needed. The door creaked open so Lith walked in.

"Anyone here? I'm looking for a job!" said Lith as she began to wander around the shop, looking at the creepy masks.

"Boo."

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH- is what you want me to say, but I knew you were there." stated Lith as she looked at the odd looking person.

"Oh, you're a surprisingly un-surprised." stated the tattooed man as he sat up on his bench and began to examine Lith closely. "What's someone like you doing here?"

"Well," began Lith with a slightly annoyed tone ."I need some money. So I'm looking for a job."

"But I need someone older than you. Not a kid." declared Uta.

"Geez, I'm not scared of ghouls, so I'm perfect!" announced Lith.

"Are you one yourself? No. So you back to your parents."

That last part stung Lith a little, but she decided to shrug it off. She wasn't going to let a creepy ghoul like him brush her off as a child!

"No! I'm not leaving until I get a job!" said Lith with a triumphant smile.

"You really act like a kid." sighed Uta as he got up and began to show Lith the basics.

=o=

A few weeks later, Lith walked out of the shop. "Yosh! I finally got paid for all my hard work!" exclaimed Lith in the middle of the street, cheering.

Many people pretended not to see her, while others watched her suspiciously. As Lith noticed the attention she was attracting, she quickly lowered her head in embarrassment and headed to her residence.

Lith stretched herself before plopping herself in front of the television. Her new couch was surprisingly comfortable, noted Lith as she began to watch the news.

"The notorious ghoul, Black Rabbit was recently spotted downtown last night. As advised, stay in your homes and when going outside, don't go alone."

"Thank you for the report, and now for the news."

"You bet! Recently, there has been a gang targeting large banks and jewelry shops. They are ar-" Lith switched off the television and walked to towards a bookshelf. She had recently been studying ghouls, trying to find as much information about their anatomy as possible.

Lith began scanning the covers and decided to go for a book named "Inside A Ghoul: the scary truth". Frowning, she looked in disgust at the title but looked at the index.

There was a sudden knock on Lith's door.

"Open up, it's time to pay rent." said a woman's voice.

"Coming!" hollered Lith as she placed the book back on the shelf and headed to the door.

"Where's the pay! It's a week due!" yelled a tall, foreign woman.

"Sorry Ms. Karlin, I don't have enough." croaked Lith as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"You better have it in two weeks, or you're out of here!" said the blond-haired landlady.

"Right!" responded Lith quickly before slamming the door it the landlady's face. I probably shouldn't have done that…thought Lith as she leaned on the window, thinking about what she would do to earn extra money. Working with Uta was great (most of the time), but it wasn't enough to pay for all her expenses.

—

"I can't find any jobs!" said Lith to a pigeon. "You don't think I'm crazy, do you?" The bird's head leaned to the left before he flew away, leaving Lith alone.

Geez, I'm even talking to a pigeon, thought Lith as she sighed. She could use some advice right now, especially from a friend.

"Hey! Give that back!" said a black-haired girl. She seemed to be a year younger than Lith, but was a bit taller than her (poor Lith, she's a bit short, just like Ayato). The girl was chasing a much taller girl who appeared to have something in her hand.

Lith looked into the distance, trying to drown out their voices.

"That's mine!"

"Well then grab it!"

"Please! You're going to break it!"

"Do something about it!"

"ENOUGH!" yelled Lith as she jumped up and grabbed a pen from the tall girl's hand. "Are you kidding me? This was all you were complaining about!?"

"Uh, yeah. But thank you!" said the black-haired girl as she stuck out her hand. "My name's Karissa!"

"No problem, but please be more quiet." said Lith as she walked away.

"Hey! That was disrespect! Come back here!" screamed Karissa as she followed Lith.

"You know, I'm in a terrible mood right now, so leave me alone."

"Grumpy, much?" mumbled Karissa. Lith was ready to explode when there was a loud crash. Distracting Lith from her anger, she immediately went to the cause of the sound. Glass, cement and a few other things littered the ground in front of a jewelry shop.

People began to crowd in order to see what had caused the commotion. Suddenly, an alarm began to sound loudly. Lith decided that she was going to ignore it. The police would probably arrive any second now.

Lith was about to walk away when something caught her attention. "They've got guns!" squeaked Karissa.

"What?" said Lith in surprise. She thought they were just amateurs. It seemed as though she was wrong. "You know what, stay back and be careful. They might be real."

When she received no response, Lith turned around to see that Karissa was gone.

=o=

Author's Note: I tried to improve my writing a bit, hopefully it can make the story a bit better (but it's still a work in progress, but bear with me). Don't forget to review!