"So, how's Aogiri coming along?" asked Lith teasingly as she stretched her arms.

"Tch. Perfectly fine." stated Ayato dryly as he remembered Eto's warning and his encounter with the 'spies'. It was best to keep Lith at a distance from anyone associated with Aogiri. She was a little too easy to manipulate, he thought, recalling all the past times she was forced into something.

"You're awfully quiet tonight." mumbled Lith, feeling bored with the unwanted silence. Noticing he was lost in thought, she decided to call it a night. She needed to wake up the next day early, and she definitely did not want to have bags under her eyes.

Just as she was about to get up and leave, she noticed that they were being watched. "Ne, Ayato, is someone keeping tabs on you?" asked Lith cautiously, not wanting to get the attention from the hidden figure.

"Probably someone from Aogiri. I'll go deal with them." he said quietly, heading towards the suspicious shadow. As he casually walked towards the ghoul, Lith held her breath. She wasn't sure why, but she had a really bad feeling about this. Lith unconsciously began to follow Ayato silently.

"AYATO-KUN!" squealed a loud voice. Ayato's mouth momentarily gaped opened. He quickly switched to a seemingly unfazed expression. Who was that ghoul? What was she doing, spying on them? Why did she seem and smell so familiar…

"Yoka." simply said Ayato as he eyed her suspiciously.

Wait…Yoka? As in Karissa's sister? As in the ex-classmate/ex-roommate Yoka? What was she doing here? Why was it that when they encountered her, Ayato seemed slightly annoyed (and at times freaked out)? Why was she always so excited to see him?

"Did you miss me?" she ask in a childish tone. Well, this was annoyingly disgusting. Why was she with Ayato? She suddenly turned her head in Lith's direction and smirked.

Immediately, Lith felt a ping of jealousy. Why was she jealous? Don't ask her, as she had no idea. Yoka suddenly got a little too close to Ayato for Lith's liking. Noticing Ayato feeling quite uncomfortable, Lith decided to approach them.

"Hey Yoka!" Lith said in a (fake) cheerful voice. Ayato's face immediately showed a relieved expression. As he was about to pull Yoka away from him, she suddenly whispered something in his ear before walking away. Ayato looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"Are you all right?" asked Lith worriedly, completely forgetting her previous emotions.

"Go away." said Ayato coldly.

"What?" asked Lith, surprised at his sudden mood swing.

"I said, go away!" he growled. Why was he acting like this? What had Yoka just whispered to him? What was going through his mind?

Lith, looking a bit saddened, turned away. Clearly, her presence wasn't wanted, thought Lith angrily, before storming off into the darkness.

"And then, he just told me to go away!" screamed Lith in frustration before she quickly slurped down her strawberry smoothy. They were sitting at a peaceful outdoor cafe downtown.

"Well, that sucks." said Karissa bluntly.

"That sucks!? Don't you have any advice!?" yelled Lith as she banged her fists on the table. A lot of stares followed, and Lith was given a warning by one of the waiters.

"Aw shucks, I can't do anything right!" whimpered Lith as she slumped down on her seat and buried her head under her arms.

"Well, I don't really know what to say. You should probably just talk to him."

"He's not the talkative type! These past few weeks he's been acting strangely, but he's usually not like that." responded Lith as she waved to a waiter and payed for her smoothy.

As they walked out, they maintained their silence, trying to think of something to say. Without noticing, they automatically walked towards Karissa's house. Maybe Lith could ask what happened the night before? Ha, as if.

As Karissa opened the door, Lith tried to get the negative thoughts out of her head. They walked through the silent house and headed towards the staircase. So far, it didn't seem as though Yoka was around. They walked towards Karissa's bedroom before closing the large door.

"Lith, I'm actually kind of worried. Yoka's been acting 'differently'." said Karissa silently, as if she didn't want anyone else to hear her. She sat cross legged on her bed and looked at Lith urgently.

"Well, I'm not sure. I did find it weird to see her though." replied Lith as she followed Karissa and sat on the corner of the bed.

"Do you think they might be dating?" asked Karissa.

"Who? Yoka and Ayato?"

"Of course, dummy. Who else!"

"I doubt that. Ayato's not the romantic type…" said Lith as she laughed at the idea, but deep down, she was worried that what her friend said might be true.

"You ready?" asked Karissa.

"Not really." responded Lith as she wore her ('new') ghoul mask. The two friends had decided to follow Yuka to find out what she was doing. Even thought Lith didn't agree at first, she saw how her best friend seemed to really care about her cousin.

Around 11pm Yoka sneaked out of their house and put on her mask. Lith and Karissa followed behind, trying to avoid getting detected. They found this quite difficult as ghouls had a very good sense of smell.

"Karissa leave this to me I can keep track of her from a farther distance." Lith whispered.

"No! That's my cousin!" screamed Karissa. Lith knocked her down when she saw Yoka stop in the distance.

"Shut up, idiot!" Lith whispered as she covered Karissa's mouth. Lith suddenly stood up.

"Lith?"

"Shush!"

Lith's face had an angry expression. Karissa noted that Lith's knuckles were clenched tightly when she too noticed what her friend was angry at. "Ayato?" mumbled Karissa as she cautiously stood up.

Ayato suddenly looked back.

"Oh shit…" mumbled Lith and Karissa as they quickly ducked. They didn't hear anything for a few minutes so they looked up only to have Yoka looming over them. Karissa looked terrified. Why was she looking at her cousin like that?

"Heh, sorry about that…" laughed Lith nervously, scratching the back of her neck.

"What do you think you're doing!?" yelled Yoka furiously. Before Lith knew what was happening, Karissa went flying and slammed against a concrete wall.

"What the fuck was that for!?" screamed Lith. She was fuming. No, beyond outraged. She grabbed Yoka by her collar and lifted her into the air. "First Ayato and now Karissa!?"

"Hey, hey, I can explain." Yoko responded, apparently oblivious to what she had just done to Lith's feelings.

"Shut up."

"It's all a misunderstanding!"

"I said, shut up!"

"Lith?" called out Ayato. He had been running in their direction after he sensed that something wasn't alright. Mainly Lith. "What are you doing?"

"You!" she growled, letting go of Yoka and turning to face Ayato. Ayato wanted to ask her if she was alright but Lith instead slapped him. Not strong enough to send him crashing, but just enough to leave a mark (almost like a human). "Of all people, it just had to be you!"

Lith turned around, not caring about the passerby that was looking at them and ran in Karissa's direction. She wasn't going to leave her friend behind with a bunch of morons.

Author's Note: Alright, I'm sorry for not updating for so long! I ran out of ideas, decided to write other fanfics (which I've decided to keep private since updating 5 or 6 stories would be absolutely mad) and (FINALLY) finished school. Well, technically I still have like two weeks, but since we've already been graded I'm never going back ('till next school year, unfortunately). I hope I'll be able to update sooner now that I don't have such a hectic schedule. Also, sorry the chapter was so short. I promise something interesting/good (hopefully) is happening SOON. But not yet. Wait until the next chapter. Review if you'd like, I'm open to suggestions, especially since I'm not too sure how this is going to go.